Into the Field
by VinEsquire
Summary: In a slightly parallel universe, U.S.S. Voyager has a Starfleet JAG prosecutor and a platoon of MARCOs - Marine Commandos - assigned to help capture the maquis. As the maquis are integrated into Voyager's crew, the MARCOs must adapt to the situation.
1. Chapter 1  Invisible

Counselor Vallicent W. Shin sat silently in his stateroom. What had he gotten himself into? The young man tried to compose himself before having his meeting with the captain.

"Counselor, please meet me in the briefing room," came the captain's voice from the young man's combadge.

He tapped his combadge. "Acknowledged."

Val walked out of the room, thinking about the events that had led to his situation. Three weeks ago, he was sitting at his desk, dutifully filling out paperwork. His superior walked into the office and informed him that it was Val's turn on the rotation to take a field assignment. Val didn't mind. In fact, he looked forward to doing some field work and getting out of his office.

Val's temporary assignment was to oversee fugitive retrieval operations onboard the _U.S.S. Voyager_, which was assigned to track down a particular maquis ship and capture a former Starfleet officer turned traitor named Chakotay. Val's job was to make sure that the captured traitors were properly treated before being handed over to Starfleet authorities for trial. He would also oversee the interrogations that took place on _Voyager_, if any occurred before prisoner transfer.

Unfortunately, what was originally supposed to be a temporary assignment was greatly extended. To a whopping 75 years, even at maximum warp. While chasing Chakotay's maquis raider, _Voyager_ had been taken far from home, into the Delta Quadrant.

Val finally reached the door to the conference room. He took a deep breath, and walked into the room. There, seated at the table were Captain Kathryn Janeway and Vice Captain Chakotay, the ship's new second-in-command.

"Please, take a seat," said the Captain.

"Thank you, captain," said Val as he took his seat.

"Counselor, how long have you been a JAG prosecutor?" asked the Captain.

"About a year. Before my current posting, I was assigned to Starfleet's environmental research division as junior compliance counsel."

"Well, counselor," said Janeway. "I don't really have a need for a lawyer on this ship."

Val looked down. "Yes, sir. Um... I mean, yes, ma'am."

"Counselor, Captain is fine."

"Where do you think you'd fit in on this ship?" asked Chakotay.

"I'm not quite sure." Val knew that the captain would have to assign him some type of duty. He didn't really have any knowledge of the engineering systems onboard, and that was the specialty that was most lacking. Val also knew that Voyager needed a medic, and was short on flight control officers. But Val had no medical background, and Tom Paris was recently re-instated as a Lieutenant and assigned as flight control officer.

"We'll get to that later," said Janeway. "What I want to discuss is this." She waved her padd, and then slid it across the desk to Val.

Val picked it up, and read it. Incident report SBA-2236.

"What happened?" asked the Captain.

"It's in the report," responded Val.

"You sent three crewmembers to sickbay. One with serious internal injuries," said Chakotay.

"Yes."

"Why shouldn't I put you in the brig for that?" asked Janeway.

"It is the three crewmembers in sickbay who should be put in the brig."

"Why? Because they were maquis?" asked Chakotay.

"Permission to speak freely?" asked Val, turning to face the Captain.

"Granted," said Janeway, curious to hear what the young lieutenant had to say.

"First, I strongly believe the maquis traitors all belong in prison, including the man sitting next to you right now."

Chakotay was about to interject, but Janeway put up her hand to signal that she wanted to hear more.

"Go on," she said.

"That being said, I do not roam about picking fights with random people, even if they are scum-sucking traitors. Those three men are in sickbay because they attacked me first. They thought they'd have some fun. I took the action necessary and even called for medical attention once the altercation was over."

Janeway slid another padd in front of Val. They contained the Doctor's medical reports.

"Overkill, don't you think?" asked the Captain.

"No ma'am. It was the appropriate amount of 'kill.' I took the necessary action to ensure they no longer represented a danger to me."

"These injuries. They are not consistent with injuries suffered by attackers. If anything, I'd think you were the attacker," said Chakotay. He hard a hard time believing that three of his men would lose a fair fight to one man, unless the one was the initial aggressor and had the element of surprise.

"Ask your men when they wake up in sickbay. I doubt the little traitors will tell the truth, but listen to their concocted story, and then evaluate it against their injuries. See whose story is more consistent," said Val defiantly.

"No need," said Janeway. "One of them awoke several minutes before you arrived." Chakotay was surprised. He had not been informed.

"The crewman admitted that one of his friends started the physical altercation. However, I must ask, do you not think you used excessive force?" asked the captain.

"No ma'am, I do not. I'm a lawyer. A prosecutor, no less. I know where the line is between proper force and excessive force. I did not cross that line."

Janeway was a little frustrated by the response. She slid yet another padd to Val.

"Now, let's talk about this." It was Incident Report SBA-2227, from a week before.

"This incident report interests me," said Janeway.

"I'm glad I entertain you," said Val sarcastically.

"You, lieutenant, will watch your tone. Understood?"

"Yes, captain. Sorry captain."

"In this particular incident, one week prior, you exhibit sympathy towards a maquis member."

"I showed sympathy to a human being," retorted Val. "Regardless of whether she was a maquis traitor, all human beings are entitled to a level of dignity."

"You seemed more protective of this one though," said Janeway, with slight curiosity in her voice. "Many other maquis have been roughed up, some in your presence. Yet this is the only time you've intervened."

"Maybe I'm a sexist and I think all girls are fragile and unable to take care of themselves," said Val, by now getting annoyed at the Captain's questions.

"No, that's not quite it," said Janeway, still curious. She smiled. For some reason, the young lieutenant was trying his best to annoy her. The best way to counter that was to not act annoyed. "Regardless, that's not what I wanted to discuss. Do you remember what action you took?"

"It's in the report," said Val.

"It says here that you dressed down the three MARCOs who were bullying maquis crewman DuPont."

Karen Kelly DuPont. KKD. Val's object of affection for over three months before he had the guts to tell her. The two of them went to law school together. After he had confessed his feelings, she had told him that she saw him as just a friend, and would never see him as anything else. He had been crushed, but told her he was perfectly fine.

"Nobody challenges a MARCO," said Chakotay. "And yet you did." MARCOs were Starfleet's landing soldiers. An abbreviation for Marine Commandos, MARCOs tended to be some of the toughest Starfleet personnel. Their uniforms were slightly different. Similar to Fleet uniforms, they were mostly black. However, instead of the red/beige/blue scheme on the shoulders, the MARCOs had gray. Their collars were black. On Captain Janeway's mission to capture Chakotay, Starfleet Command had decided to post a platoon of MARCOs on Voyager in case the maquis were chased to a planetary base of operations. In general, Fleet crewmen kept their distance from the MARCOs.

"I felt it was the right thing to do," said Val.

"You're lucky they didn't rip you in half," said Chakotay. "One of them was about twice your size!"

Val had always been very aware that he was relatively short. Standing at 5'6" he was about 4 inches shorter than the average male. And physically, Val was not as built as the average male MARCO.

"That," said Janeway, "is what I want to discuss. Why did the MARCOs not harm you?"

"Ma'am?"

"The MARCOs have been a real problem for me, Counselor. They roam about this ship as if they are above the law. They have no respect for authority. They've engaged in multiple melees, mostly against maquis members. And when my security officers intervene to break up the fights, the MARCOs have turned on my officers. I can't count the number of sickbay visits the MARCOs have caused."

"That doesn't surprise me," responded Val.

"Explain," said Janeway.

"Do you really need me to spell it out?"

"Humor me."

"First of all, MARCOs respect authority, just not yours. That's always been the way things are."

"I've served with MARCOs before," said Janeway. "I never had any problems."

"MARCOs and Fleet don't mix, even though both organizations are run by Starfleet Command. MARCOs are soldiers. Every time they need to get to a battle, Fleet always gives them a ride. But that's it. And after the battle, a ship comes to pick them up. MARCOs have no respect for Fleet officers because Fleet officers don't fight in combat."

"Okay," said Janeway. She had heard about such attitudes carried by the MARCOs, but never thought it was that strong.

"Moreover, the MARCOs' mission, and your mission, Captain, was to capture the traitors. And here the traitors are, running around free. That's enough to get them steamed. Even if it wasn't the MARCOs' mission, they would still have problems getting along with traitors."

"Counselor," said Janeway, trying to mask her annoyance. "Please refrain from using the word traitor. You will use the word maquis from now on."

"No ma'am, I certainly will not," said a defiant Lieutenant Shin. "I will call them what they are."

Janeway was frustrated. She would deal with the young counselor later, perhaps in a one-on-one setting without Chakotay present.

"Back to my initial question, lieutenant," Janeway was going to refer to the young officer as a lieutenant from now on, hoping to repeatedly remind him that she outranked him. "Why were you unharmed? If any of my security officers had challenged a MARCO, the MARCOs would not have complied. Yet, not only did you leave unscathed, but it seems that the three MARCOs immediately complied and left DuPont alone. I'm curious, why is that?"

"You'd have to ask them, ma'am. I cannot speak for the internal motivations of other people."

"Venture a guess, lieutenant," said the Captain, in a tone that suggested it was an order.

"During officer training, I was paired with Brevet Major Douglas in boarding tactics."

"Major Douglas?" asked Chakotay.

"Douglas was the former MARCO platoon commander. He was one of the recent casualties," explained Janeway.

"Yes," said Val silently. "Douglas and I trained for three months. I was the Fleet cavalry pilot trainee assigned to fly the landing craft for the MARCO landing training missions and SEAL vessel boarding missions. Douglas served as cadet squad leader."

"So, the MARCOs get along with at least one "squid," it would seem," said Janeway approvingly. MARCOs often called Fleet officers squids. It was a tradition dating back from when Earth's ocean-going navies carried marines on ships.

"I'm not sure I would say that," said Val. "Although, the platoon sergeant seems to have a positive opinion of me. Maybe one or two others. I don't know about the rest."

"Here's the thing, lieutenant. I want the MARCOs out of my way," said Janeway.

"Captain?" said Val, wondering what Janeway meant by that.

"Oh yes. They are enough of a thorn in my side for me to have actually thought about marooning them on some random planet. However... I will not do that. But I do need for them to stay out of the way. At the very least, I need them confined so that they do not start fights with either the maquis or even my own people."

Val was about to say something, but stopped short. He remained silent, but was visibly disturbed.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Permission to speak freely?"

"Yes, for the rest of this conversation, you may presume that you have permission to speak freely."

"It would be a grave mistake to antagonize the MARCOs. You NEED them."

"The MARCOs were assigned to help me capture the maquis. Since that is no longer an objective of mine, I no longer need them."

"Ma'am," said Val as he gave a quick glance towards Chakotay and then looked away. "I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but it's been spread amongst the crew that the maquis crewmembers are going to mutiny fairly soon. You will need the MARCOs to protect you."

"You doubt the effectiveness of Lieutenant Tuvok and his security force?"

Val was about to ask for permission to speak again, but he remembered he didn't have to.

"With all due respect, captain, a unified maquis could easily overrun your security forces. And Voyager's science and engineering staff? A squad of three MARCOs could probably take them all down. Your ship is in danger every second you let the maquis roam about."

Chakotay glanced at Janeway. She nodded, as if giving him permission to speak.

"Counselor, I was well aware of the rumors floating about. I have assured the captain that if any maquis members attempt to mutiny, I would put them in the brig myself."

"Sir," said Val. "With all due respect, even if it were true that you yourself do not wish to lead a mutiny, do you truly think you have enough influence over the rest of the maquis? Can you even name one of them who is not displeased with the current situation? I'm telling you right now, they are going to rebel. In significant numbers, if not entirely."

"Lieutenant," said the Captain. "I realize your concern, but I think we have this under control. I will not lock the maquis in the brig. I am leaving the situation in Vice Captain Chakotay's capable hands."

Val was somewhat disappointed, but he had a strong feeling the captain wouldn't see reason.

Janeway added, "Nor will I confine the MARCOs. In any event, I have a task for you."

Val was listening intently, although he had a feeling he was not going to like what he was about to hear.

"I need you to keep the MARCOs in line. I know that they will probably never accept Tuvok as their superior officer. But you're right, I may need the MARCOs to supplement my security force one day. While I have faith the maquis are not going to mutiny, I don't know what situations might come up here in the Delta Quadrant. I'd rather have the MARCOs on my side just in case."

"How do you suggest I keep them line, ma'am?" asked Val.

"The MARCOs lost their platoon commander. Since they need a new one, I'm making you it."

"Captain! That's insane. I'm not a MARCO."

"Yes, but you're not a legal counselor. At least, not anymore. I have no use for one. I need you to pick up a different role, and platoon commander is it."

"But captain, I'm a Fleet officer. Surely I'd be more suited for something else."

"Lieutenant, tell me what you're suited for besides legal. Can you be an engineer? A scientist? It seems to me that you can best serve this ship by assuming leadership of the MARCOs. And most importantly, keeping the MARCOs out of my hair."

"Captain, I recommend against this. Instead, you should have the platoon sergeant retain command. Staff Sergeant Nathan Driver is a capable leader."

"Here's the thing, Val," said Janeway. It was the first time she referred to him by his first name, instead of by his rank. "None of the MARCOs, including Sergeant Driver, respects my authority as much as you do. Even considering the way you've spoken to me in this very conversation, at the very least you've asked for my permission to speak freely. I also have no doubt that you will ultimately obey any direct order I give you. I cannot say the same for any of the MARCOs. On the flip side of the coin, the MARCOs appear to respect you more than any other Fleet officer. I need you as my middle man, Val. I need you to keep them in line."

"But captain, you can't just make me a MARCO. They know I'm not one of them."

"Why not? You're a Starfleet lieutenant. That's the equivalent of a MARCO brevet major. I can transfer your rank and we'll be set."

"No, captain. The MARCOs won't accept that. I'm not one of them. It'll appear to them as a slap in the face."

"Fine, then you'll keep your Starfleet commission and rank, and I'll place you as their platoon commander regardless."

"I don't think they'll go for that. You'll basically take whatever respect they have for me now and shoot it out an airlock. There has to be another way."

"I'm open to suggestions. How do you think I should handle this?"

Val thought for about half a minute.

"How 'bout you keep Sergeant Driver in charge?"

"We've already been through this, Lieutenant," said a semi-frustrated Janeway.

"No, hear me out. If you really want some modicum of control over the MARCOs, they have to be led by a MARCO. You can't inject someone else into their leadership. But... how about you just give me a randomly created title. Like "Fleet-MARCO liaison." It can be my job to oversee their actions. Does that work?"

Janeway was a little surprised. In fact, after thinking about it for a minute, she was surprised she hadn't come up with the idea previously. It was Val's original assignment to oversee the Starfleet security personnel as they captured the maquis. Although Val was a prosecutor, his role on Voyager was oversight. The young lieutenant's suggestion appealed to the captain.

"Yes. Val, that works well. It's decided then."

"Thank you, captain. So all you want me to do is keep them from fighting the maquis?"

"And Fleet security, of course. I do not want to see any more incident reports with the acronym MARCO. In fact, I want to be able to not even know they're onboard. I want them to be invisible."

"Invisible?"

"Yes, lieutenant. Make that happen."

"Aye, captain."

"Dismissed."

Val stood up and turned to exit the room.

* * *

The next day, Val went to the mess hall to speak with Staff Sergeant Driver. With Driver were his two squad leaders, Sergeants Julie Hall and Michael Raines.

"Sergeant Driver, do you mind if I sit?" asked Val.

"Sir, please do." Driver was one of the few people who liked Val. Prior to being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Major Douglas had introduced Driver to Val. The two got along despite the Fleet-MARCO animosity. Both were from regions of an ancient state called New York. Val was from Long Island and Driver was from upstate. Both were also interested in joining the sea-going navy and serving on submarines before eventually joining Starfleet.

"Nathan, I'm sorry about Aaron," said Val. Although the Val and Driver had passed each others in the hallways, this was the first time they've spoken since Aaron Douglas' death.

"Yes, sir. We all are," said Driver somberly.

"Look, I know that Aaron - I mean, Major Douglas - wasn't a big fan of Fleet. But, I also know that he would want you guys to get along. He wouldn't want the MARCOs brawling with ship's security."

"Sir, we've never engaged the Vulcan's men," said Sergeant Hall, referring to Tuvok as the Vulcan.

"Be that as it may, you've had fights with the maquis on numerous occasions, and most of the time security had to come in to break up the fight. I can't have that anymore."

"Sir?" asked Driver, curious as to what Val meant.

"The Captain wanted to abandon the MARCOs on some desolate planet. She said you guys are completely out of control."

"It's the Captain that's out of control!" interjected Sergeant Raines.

"While I may or may not agree with the Captain's decisions, in the end, she's the captain. I had to plead with her to keep you guys on board. She said she'd do it under one condition, that you guys behave yourselves. To that end, she has appointed me as the officer overseeing the MARCOs. If you have any problems or requests, run them through me. All that I ask is that you guys refrain from the confrontations with the maquis."

"The traitors?" asked Driver.

"Yes, the traitors," said Val. "She needs them more than she needs MARCOs, or so she believes. If the fights keep going on and she needs to pick a side, the MARCOs are going to wind up on the losing end."

The three sergeants were visibly mad. To think that the captain was more worried about annoying a bunch of traitors than respecting the MARCOs.

"Understood," said Driver reluctantly. "So I guess I report to you now?" he asked.

"Not exactly," said Val. "You report to nobody. I've asked that you retain command of the MARCOs and the Captain has agreed. I'm not your commanding officer, I'm just a liaison officer. However, if and when the MARCOs have any interaction with Fleet, then yes, you report to me."

"So us MARCOs will remain an independent entity?" asked Raines.

"Yes."

"And the Vulcan, he's okay with this?" asked Hall.

"I don't know about Tuvok, but Janeway is."

That was the first good bit of news the MARCO sergeants had heard in a while. They heard Janeway had wanted to bring the MARCOs within the security chief's command.

As Val and the three Sergeants continued to talk, a group of about 8 maquis crewmembers strolled into the mess hall. One of them was Karen DuPont. The group sat down at a table by the viewports. About half a minute later, three MARCOs approached the newly arrived group of maquis. They seemed to have been led by Corporal Lorenzo Rodriguez. It was the same MARCO that hassled Karen DuPont over a week ago. It appeared he was going to do so again. Val didn't know the corporal's name during that first incident, but he made it a point to learn all the names after Janeway tasked him to oversee the MARCOs.

The eight maquis got up to leave, but three other MARCOs took position between the group and the exit.

"We don't want any trouble," said one of the maquis.

The maquis tried to make their way to the door, but were pushed back. As KKD passed the corporal, he reached out and grabbed her arm. Two of her colleagues attempted to free her, but the other MARCOs forcefully pushed them aside.

Val had seen enough. He got up and approached the young corporal.

"Corporal Rodriguez, unhand her this instant," said Val sternly but calmly.

"But, sir," the corporal protested.

Val cut him off. "Do it. Now."

Rodriguez let go of Karen. But with that very same hand, he formed a fist and punched Val right in the face. Val reeled back, tripped on a chair, and fell backwards onto the floor. Rodriguez simply stood there, not knowing what to do. Sergeant Driver had knelt down to check on Val.

Multiple Starfleet personnel rushed into the mess hall. At the same time, the maquis quickly removed themselves from the situation.

"MARCOs, stand at attention!" ordered Raines. He wanted to avoid further chaos.

The 6 MARCO troopers in the mess hall stood straight, eyes forward.

"Vince, are you okay?" asked Tom Paris, one of the Starfleet officers that just arrived. Paris was now scanning Val with a medical tricorder.

"Yea, I'll be fine," Val answered. For some reason, Tom called Val "Vince." Val was going to ask him about that someday.

"I'll get Tuvok to throw Rodriguez in the brig right now," said Paris. One of the bystanders in the mess hall had told Tom that Val called his assailant Corporal Rodriguez prior to the punch.

Driver was dismayed. Not that it was ever okay to fight with a Fleet crewman, but thus far, the MARCOs only had altercations with lower ranking enlisted men. This was the first time a MARCO had physically assaulted an officer, which was a much more serious offense.

"No, that won't be necessary," said Val to Tom.

"Are you sure?" asked Tom as he helped Val get up on his feet.

"Yes. Thanks Tom."

Val turned to Driver, who was now getting in the face of Corporal Rodriguez.

"Sergeant Driver," said Val. "I want you to gather each and every one of your MARCOs and wait for me in your barracks."

"Aye, sir," responded the sergeant.

The platoon sergeant addressed his men.

"You heard the lieutenant. To the barracks. Now!" he yelled.

* * *

The platoon milled about restlessly in their barracks.

Voyager's Cargo Bay 3 had been partially converted into barracks for most of the MARCOs. Major Douglas had his own quarters. The two squad leaders shared a cabin on Deck 9. The rest of the MARCOs slept in bunk beds at the barracks.

"I can't believe that every time I try to get at DuPont, that annoying squid lieutenant always gets in the way," a frustrated Rodriguez said to one of his teammates.

Corporal Rodriguez was the team leader for fire team Charlie, of the platoon's 1st Squad. Each team consisted of one corporal and three privates.

"You're lucky they didn't throw you in the brig," said one of the privates. "I can't believe you struck an officer."

Rodriguez knew better than that. During his first encounter with Val, one of the other corporals had gently pulled him away. But even if that didn't happen, he wouldn't have hit Val.

"You're lucky I don't bust you down to Private and assign a new team leader," said Sergeant Hall, Rodriguez' Squad leader. She just joined in on the discussion. She was in charge of 1st Squad, which had three teams.

Just then, Val walked into the cargo bay.

"Platoon! Atten-shun!" barked Sergeant Driver.

The 26 members of the platoon stood at attention and intently waited for their next order.

"Fall in!" said Driver.

The platoon fell into formation. Facing the platoon, Sergeant Driver saw First Squad lined up on his right side, in three rows of four, representing the three fire teams. Second Squad did the same, lining up on the left side. Usually, a platoon would have three squads, but this platoon was down-sized for the Voyager mission. The two squad leaders, Sergeants Hall and Raines, stood in front of their respective squads, facing forward.

Driver did an about face. As Val approached him, Driver did a hand salute.

"Sir, all MARCOs present and accounted for."

"Outstanding, sergeant," said Val. He returned the salute. Val approached closer to Driver and whispered. "Sergeant, you do not need to salute me. Thank you for the gesture though."

Driver nodded in acknowledgment. He did another about face so that he was facing the platoon.

Val slowly paced for a few steps, examining the platoon of MARCOs standing there.

"At ease, MARCOs."

It seemed like several of the MARCOs were hesitant. They were not accustomed to taking orders from a Fleet officer. While the MARCOs always showed courtesy and respect to Fleet officers, obeying orders was different. But, once all the MARCOs saw their two squad leaders standing at ease, the rest of the platoon followed.

Val started to address the platoon. He was slightly nervous. The last time he addressed a large number of people was back in law school when he played a judge in a court simulation. But, during officer training, his professors had said he was a relatively good speaker.

"As I was discussing with your platoon sergeant right before I was rudely punched in the face, Captain Janeway is at her wits end hearing about all the fights and mayhem some of you MARCOs have caused."

Val held up a padd and read briefly through the incident reports compiled by Lt. Tuvok.

"A total of 17 altercations between the MARCOs and the maquis. Fifteen of those were initiated by a MARCO. Out of the 27 of you standing here, 21 of you have been involved in an incident. More than half of you have been involved in multiple incidents."

After pausing for about 10 seconds and pacing a bit, Val finally gave his first order.

"This nonsense has to stop."

After another 5 seconds, Val started to explain the situation.

"Captain Janeway has made an ultimatum. If any of the MARCOs shows up on an incident report again, she will maroon all of you on a nearby planet and warp away."

Val saw many of the MARCO shifting uneasily.

"I've convinced her to have a little bit more patience with all of you. To that end, she has made all of you my responsibility. If you have any problems with any members of the crew, you bring it up your chain of command and they will bring it to me. This includes any members of the maquis who are now integrated into Voyager's crew. Do I make myself clear?"

"Five by five, sir!" responded Sergeant Driver, in military jargon which meant loud and clear.

Val had expected all of the MARCOs to respond, but it was enough for him that their leader did.

Corporal Rodriguez took a step forward.

"Sir!" he said.

Walking over to the corporal, Val stopped when he was a couple feet facing him.

"Permission to speak freely?" asked the corporal.

"De-nied," said Val, forcefully. Part of him was simply trying to gauge the level of obedience of the MARCOs. Another part of him wanted to piss off the corporal.

Rejected, the corporal stepped back in line.

In a low voice, Val told the corporal, "look, if you have a real problem, I'll deal with it. Tell your sergeant and she'll come to me if she thinks it deserves my attention. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," answered Rodriguez, in an equally low voice.

Val walked back up to the front of the room. Addressing the entire platoon, he told them what he expected.

"For now, only as a temporary thing, the entire platoon is confined to decks 9 through 15. Stay away from the mess hall unless otherwise authorized. The restrictions will be lifted in the near future, but for now, I need a cooling off period so that you and the maquis have time to let your tempers die down. I will personally insist that you guys get more freedoms later on. As for now, Janeway doesn't want any MARCO to pop up on her radar. Lie low and keep to yourselves. In her exact words, she wants you to be invisible. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" came the unified response of the entire platoon.

"Out-Standing," said Val, speaking with a quick pause after the first syllable, like a drill sergeant he once observed had done.

"Sergeant Driver, the platoon is yours."

As the sergeant called his platoon back to attention, Val left the cargo bay/barracks.


	2. Chapter 2  Independence

Val walked down the corridors of Deck 7. He was getting used to the internal layout of the _U.S.S. Voyager_. In his past, he had never served aboard a starship for longer than the summer tour between his third and fourth years at the Academy. His stay on _Voyager _might prove to be significantly longer than that.

It had been six weeks since Captain Janeway assigned him to be her liaison officer with the MARCOs on board. There had been no more incidents since then. However, he kept a standing request for the MARCOs to avoid the maquis. A few days ago, Janeway finally gave the MARCOs permission to move freely about the ship. Val hoped that wouldn't start the incidents again. He knew there were problems with specific people. He learned from Sergeant Julie Hall the exact nature of the animosity that Corporal Rodriguez had for Crewman DuPont of the maquis.

Rodriguez held DuPont as one of the maquis responsible for the death of his brother. Val initially had a hard time believing DuPont could be involved in such an event. However, he also would have never believed DuPont would join a traitorous organization such as the maquis. Yet here she was clearly a member of the group.

Rodriguez' brother, as well as 5 other Starfleet crewmen, had perished while defending a Federation supply depot against a maquis raid. DuPont was not directly involved. In fact, Val felt she basically had no involvement at all. However, it was technically true that if DuPont had taken a different course of action, Rodriguez' brother would not have perished in the tragic explosion.

Val had been thinking about the situation for the past few days. He was not sure it would ever be resolved. Although he was no longer on speaking terms with DuPont, he thought that perhaps the tension could be decreased if he could get DuPont to express regret or sympathy to Corporal Rodriguez. He wasn't sure how he would go about doing that. And even if he managed that feat, there's no telling how many other maquis members the MARCOs had personal grudges against. This on top of the general problem that Starfleet Command considers the maquis to be outlaws and that any former Starfleet officers who joined the maquis were to be tried for treason. This included the ship's current second-in-command, Vice Captain Chakotay.

Now, as Val reached his destination, he wondered what new problem would arise. A maquis crewmember, an Ensign Seska, requested that he come to her quarters. He told her that if she had a problem with one of the MARCOs, she should bring it up with Janeway and then Janeway would pass it back down to him. But she insisted on speaking with him privately.

Val reached the door and pressed the button that activated the door chime. He was invited to enter.

Ensign Seska invited him to have a seat. Val sat down.

The two of them exchanged pleasantries, but Seska quickly got to the point.

"How good of a pilot are you?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Humor me."

"I guess I'm okay."

"Can you fly a starship?"

"I think so. I thought about asking Janeway if I could become one of _Voyager_'s relief flight officers."

"Because you think you are no longer needed to mediate between the maquis and the MARCOs since there has been a lull in the confrontations lately?"

"Not exactly. I thought about it before Janeway decided to have me be a go-between for her and the MARCOs. Do you have a complaint against one of the MARCOs?"

"No, counselor. That's not what this is about."

"Then, what?"

"I believe we have a common interest."

"What would that be?"

"First, let me explain who I am."

"I know who you are."

"No, you don't. I am not a Bajoran member of the maquis. I am a Cardassian operative. My mission was to infiltrate the maquis and take down Chakotay and his terrorist cell."

Val didn't give any visible expression, but he was intrigued.

"How blind is this Chakotay character," joked Val.

"Are you denying my feminine wiles, counselor," said Seska somewhat seductively.

"Not interested," said Val.

"Oh, that's right. You're into that DuPont girl," said Seska playfully.

"In the past, maybe."

"So, now let's discuss your future, counselor."

"Go ahead."

"I plan to take over this ship. And when I do, I'll need to know whether you are with me or against me."

"Come again?"

"Sometime in the coming months, I will take over this ship."

"To what end?"

"I do not believe Janeway acts in our best interests. She is weak. She senselessly destroyed the Caretaker Array and stranded us here in the Delta Quadrant."

"So you're not a Janeway fan. You think you can do better?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"By forging alliances. To survive in this godforsaken quadrant, we need to have powerful friends. We are alone here, at the mercy of unknown numbers of hostile aliens. The Kazon-Nistrim are willing to be our protectors in exchange for knowledge of our unique technologies."

"Great, well, call me when you achieve your momentous coup d'etat," said Val jokingly.

"It will happen, lieutenant."

"What does this have to do with me? Why would I even allow you to take this ship? I should just go to the captain right now and explain to her what you just told me."

"You could, but you won't."

"You are awfully confident in that."

"Quite. Now that you know who I am, let me tell you who I think you are."

"That is?"

"You're a thirty-one."

"Close. I'm only twenty-nine. I turn thirty this coming March."

"No, counselor. You're an agent of Section 31, the Federation's secret security service."

"I've never even heard of such a thing."

"I'm quite sure you have. In fact, this whole JAG officer bit is a charade. You've been placed there because it allows you free movement. Your various "field assignments" allow you to make frequent travels to far flung locations without raising any suspicions."

"That's an interesting theory. If it were true, why wouldn't I just be in the diplomatic corps. Or a merchant?"

"You were already a Starfleet officer when you were recruited into Section 31. In fact, you were already an environmental compliance officer."

"That's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous or not, I have confidence that you see things my way. We are in need of alliances here. In fact, we need to prepare for the possibility that we may never find a way back to the Alpha Quadrant. We should prepare to build a base of power here. It is the strategic thing to do. I know you agree."

"Even more ridiculous. You think I want to rule over this little backwater part of the galaxy as some sort of king? I have absolutely no interest in staying here. I plan to return to the alpha quadrant."

"You can engage in all the wishful thinking you want."

"Why do you need me? Why are you even telling me this?"

"I wanted to give you a head's up. Professional courtesy, one spy to another."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind if Janeway ever finds out and decides to hang you."

"So I guessed right, you won't tell Janeway."

"I won't tell her because I have complete confidence that you are harmless. Quite frankly, even if I did, she would simply dismiss my warning as some kind of hallucination against a member of the maquis."

Val got up abruptly and walked toward the door.

"Good night, counselor," said Seska.

"Good night, ensign."

* * *

Val laid himself down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He had a tough time deciding whether to tell Janeway of the exchange he just had with the young maquis ensign. He had worried about possible moves by the maquis against the Starfleet crew onboard. But a Cardassian agent? That was an interesting twist. His door chime rang. He sat up on his bed.

"Enter."

It was Staff Sergeant Nathan Driver, the current leader of the MARCOs.

"Sir."

Val directed the sergeant to a seat.

"How are you, sergeant?"

"Good, sir."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"Sir, I wanted to share something with you."

"That is?"

"The men and I have crafted a contingency plan to take over this ship in case of emergency."

Val was surprised. "Just wonderful," he thought to himself.

"So you're taking over the ship, eh?" Val tried to say it in a joking tone. It didn't come out that way though, and Driver could tell that Val was uneasy.

"No, sir. It's just a contingency. And even if it happens, it will only be temporary. We would return control of _Voyager_ back to Starfleet after we find ourselves a suitable planet to live on."

"You're abandoning this ship?"

"Not our preferred outcome, but we both know Janeway is itching to maroon us somewhere when the mood strikes her. Lord knows where she would ditch us. It could be a scorching desert planet, or a freezing ice planet. I want to ensure that the planet we wind up on has a reasonable climate and provides us reasonable chances of survival. Not a barren wasteland devoid of food and shelter."

"She wouldn't do that. I'm sure she'll keep you on board."

"Really? Because that is not what a young lieutenant said to the MARCO platoon just a month and a half ago when warning of Janeway's desires. You insisted she would take such an action if there were to be any more incidents between the MARCOs and the maquis."

"I did, sergeant. So control your damn people."

"Easier said than done. Maybe things will be okay for the next week. Or the next month even. But passions will boil over. I can't placate them forever."

"Even if Janeway makes the decision, she'll find you a hospitable planet. She's not callous. There is no need to take over the ship."

"Perhaps, but I'm not taking that chance. I've been a soldier for 15 years, sir. I know how to make contingency plans. My men come first. Your Captain Janeway can go straight to hell."

"That's mutinous talk, sergeant. Contain yourself."

"Sir. I need my men's welfare to be independent from the whims of the captain. When the time comes, we're taking over the ship. But I know I can't keep control forever. So it'll be temporary. I just need to know that you'll help us when the time comes."

"Help you? I'm not a marine. And by the way, what makes you think I won't inform the captain of your little mutiny?"

"I don't need you to help me take control of the ship. I could do that with one squad. What I need is a pilot. I know you have that skillset. None of my MARCOs do. When I take control, I need a pilot to fly the ship while we search around for a hospitable planet. Paris is loyal to Janeway."

"So basically, I'm not loyal to Janeway."

"Maybe you are, but I have faith that you are reasonable and will balance the needs of both Janeway and my men. What I plan will benefit my men, and will do negligible harm to Janeway, if any."

"You are putting me in a very awkward spot here, sergeant."

"I understand. I apologize for it, but it has to be done. There is no other way."

Sergeant Driver stood up.

"Permission to leave, sir?"

"You're dismissed, sergeant."

Sergeant Driver walked out of Val's quarters. Val laid himself back on his bed. What a nightmare. He hoped that both Seska and Driver were venting and that neither of their plans would come into being.

* * *

The next morning, Val woke up refreshed. He didn't give a second thought to the two encounters he had the prior evening.

He had just finished eating his breakfast. An ancient children's cereal called "Lucky Charms" that he loved as a child. It had no nutritional value whatsoever, but it gave him pleasure. The milk he doused it in probably had at least some calcium and vitamin benefit.

As he prepared to put on his uniform, he received an incoming communication from the captain.

"Lieutenant Shin, can you report to the briefing room?"

"Acknowledged," he said after he tapped his combadge.

Val made his way to Deck 1, where the briefing room was located right next to the bridge. He found that there were four officers already seated.

_Voyager_'s briefing room was smaller and different from other ones he had been in. Almost always, the briefing room had a rectangular table. On one instance, he sat in during a meeting in a conference lounge with a rectangular table that was slightly curved. On _Voyager_, the table was very oddly shaped. Val wasn't sure how to describe the shape. Somewhat triangular was his best description. A curvy triangle. The captain sat at the apex closest to the window while there was space for 3 officers to the right or left of her. The third side did not have any chairs.

The captain sat at the head of the table. Two of her officers sat on one side. Vice Captain Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok, the ship's chief security officer. In the third chair sat Neelix, a Delta Quadrant alien whom Janeway took in. He often acted as her guide to the quadrant.

"Lieutenant, please have a seat," said Janeway.

"Thank you, captain," said Val as he sat down.

"The MARCOs seem to be much better behaved as of late. I have you to thank for that."

"You give me too much credit, ma'am."

"I'm beginning to have hopes that we can successfully integrate the MARCOs with the rest of the ship's crew. What do you think about that?"

"I think that's an admirable goal."

"But you don't think it's feasible."

"I just don't know, ma'am."

"You don't think the MARCOs can get over this whole maquis thing?"

"I wouldn't be able to say."

"Something struck my interest, counselor. You seem to get along with Lieutenant Paris just fine."

"I have no problems with Lieutenant Paris."

"Yet, he was highly disliked by both the maquis and Starfleet. My former vice captain and medical officer had very negative things to say. My current vice captain likewise had a very negative impression of the man when we first arrived in the Delta Quadrant."

"Mr. Paris' impression on others is none of my business, ma'am."

"What is your personal impression of Lt. Paris?"

"He appears to be an adequate officer."

"And your personal impression of Vice Captain Chakotay?"

"I have no opinion on that matter."

"Surely you must."

"I've always been taught that a gentleman remains silent if he has nothing good to say."

"See, this is what I don't get, counselor. You don't take kindly to the maquis. Yet, Paris was a member of the maquis."

"That is his business. People make mistakes."

"Yet, my 'mistake' is unforgivable?" asked the vice captain.

"I have no opinion on that matter," replied Val.

"Here is your preliminary advisory opinion to me when I first decided to integrate to maquis," said Janeway as she read from a padd. "This course of action is highly ill-advised. Members of the maquis should be locked up in the brig until a more permanent arrangement can be decided upon. Does that remain your opinion?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Janeway was a little bit surprised to hear that. She had been hoping for a kinder response. After all, she thought there were better relations with the maquis by now.

"Would you also advise I throw Mr. Paris into the brig."

"That is your decision."

"What would be your advice?"

"I have no opinion on that matter."

Janeway was beginning to hate that phrase. She had always hated lawyers. The one sitting in front of her was testing her patience.

"If I place all the members of the maquis in the brig, why not Paris?"

"That's your decision to make."

"Give me an argument why not Paris."

"Mr. Paris has been caught, sentenced, imprisoned, and paroled. He did the crime, he served the time. The justice system has ran through its course with him."

Janeway was intrigued.

"So it's nothing personal?" asked Janeway.

"For me, it's nothing personal. They're criminals, they should be imprisoned. The law's the law. However, I will say that for a great deal of the MARCOs, it may be more personal. In addition, for a handful of Starfleet crewmembers, there may be a personal aspect to it."

"Which Starfleet crewmembers?" asked Janeway in surprise.

"I would not feel comfortable divulging that information."

Janeway took note of that. For now, she wanted to move onto a different topic.

"Counselor, do you think the MARCOs would be willing to team up with Starfleet on an away mission?"

"An away mission? Where?"

"Lieutenant?"

Janeway had signaled for Lt. Tuvok to brief Val on the situation.

"Two hours ago, we detected an automated emergency distress beacon. It is originating from a Cardassian Galor-class warship."

"Cardassian?" asked Val in surprise.

"Indeed. Sensors have picked up the ship, we should rendezvous within the next hour and a half."

"You want the MARCOs to board that ship?"

"Alongside members of my security team," said Tuvok.

"Why the MARCOs?" asked Val.

"It's obvious the MARCOs don't trust me. And I'm not completely sure I trust them. But someone has to make the first move. This is my opening gesture that I'm willing to trust them with an important task. I am sincere in my hopes that I can integrate them into the ship's crew. You know, during the first days after we took the maquis crew onboard, I had some concerns about how I would integrate the maquis. Before the Parallax incident, I was against the idea of making Lieutenant Torres the chief engineer of this ship. Chakotay convinced me that if Torres received a senior officer position, one that she deserved, and if the maquis in general were granted more responsibility, they would be more loyal to me. I think thus far the experiment has worked. They've earned my trust. I am eager to duplicate that success with the MARCOs."

Val wasn't sure. He felt that Janeway might be sincere. However, he knew in his heart there must be a hidden motive. He thought about it for a few seconds and thought he came up with a possible reason.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't just send an away team composed of Starfleet security."

"Doing so doesn't help me with the situation with the MARCOs."

Val decided to bluff and watch the captain's reaction.

"The MARCOs will think this is a trap."

"Why?"

"If indeed there is a Cardassian ship out there, they will think you intend to send them into an ambush."

"Nonsense," insisted the captain. "I'd be sending my own officers there too."

"How many?"

"We haven't decided yet," said Tuvok.

"It simply makes no sense that you'd send in the MARCOs unless you know beforehand that there is a dangerous situation onboard. I'm not saying they wouldn't relish the challenge. But standard Starfleet protocol is to send Starfleet officers on the away team first and only use the MARCOs as back-up in the event of hostilities."

"I'm breaking protocol, captain's prerogative."

"I notice you seem to do that a lot."

"Watch your tone, lieutenant."

Val smiled. He had gotten under the captain's skin. As a prosecutor, he had found it a useful tool to increase the frustration levels of people he had under questioning. Whenever people were annoyed, they tended to let their guard down a little bit and blurt out their honest opinions more freely.

He sat for a few more seconds and pretended to think. He already knew what he was going to say next, but he acted as if he was trying to figure something out.

"You don't trust the maquis," said Val coldly with a smile.

"Come again, lieutenant?"

"You don't trust the maquis on the ship. That's why you won't beam over significant numbers of your security personnel. You want the MARCOs to supplement your away team so that you can keep more of your personnel on board," said Val, confident that he had figured it out.

"I can assure you that is not the reason."

"Then what?" asked a curious Val.

Janeway was exasperated. "It's because I don't trust the MARCOs."

"Then why use them on a mission?"

"If I send my officers over, I leave the MARCOs unchecked on board this ship. I'm obviously not going to send any of the maquis over to the Cardassian ship. Having the MARCOs onboard while my security staff is significantly reduced means I will have a tougher time breaking up any fights that occur between the MARCOs and the maquis. I'm risking chaos."

That made sense to Val.

"Captain, your protectiveness of the maquis intrigues me. They're not a ragtag bunch of harmless misfits. Many of them are dangerous. I'm sure even your security chief will concur. Tell me Lt. Tuvok, do you not fear an event that will see the maquis take over this ship?"

"I am extremely confident that will not occur," said Tuvok.

"Extremely confident because you've taken appropriate counter-measures?"

Tuvok was uncomfortable, but said "Appropriate counter-measures for such an event have been contemplated." In fact, the Vulcan lieutenant had run holodeck simulations to see what might happen in the event of a maquis mutiny. He called it Insurrection Alpha.

Janeway looked a little surprised. Val did not.

"Of course," Val said. "It was the logical thing to do." Val knew Tuvok probably planned counter-measures in the event of a MARCO uprising as well.

"Fine, counselor. I don't trust the MARCOs, the MARCOs don't trust me, and there are apparently some Starfleet officers that do not trust the maquis. We're in a three-way struggle for power. But… I *am* still the captain of this ship, and I make the final decisions. Now, I am ordering the MARCOs to join Lt. Tuvok's away team. Will they comply?"

"I am sure they will, ma'am."

"Good. You're dismissed."

"Aye, ma'am," said Val as he stood from his chair and exited the room.

* * *

Val entered the MARCO barracks in Cargo Bay 3.

"Officer on deck!" yelled one of the corporals. The rest of the MARCOs quickly stood at attention.

"As you were," said Val.

He walked over to Staff Sergeant Driver.

"Sergeant Driver, I need a word."

The two of them sat down and discussed the situation. Val wanted two fire teams to send over to the Cardassian ship.

Driver decided to take two teams from the platoon's first squad and keep the third fire team on standby.

"You'll be accompanying four Starfleet officers. You and the first fire team will beam over to the ship's bridge. Sergeant Hall and the second fire team will beam over to the ship's engineering section."

"Sounds good, sir. Will you be beaming over as well."

"No. I'm not as brave as you are," joked Val.

"Few are, sir. Very few are," joked Driver in response.

"Be safe," said Val.

* * *

Ten MARCO troops and 4 Starfleet ensigns beamed over to the Cardassian ship.

For the first time in weeks, Corporal Rodriguez was thinking of something other than picking a fight with the maquis. He had his pulse phaser rifle at the ready. The entire room was dark, except for whichever parts were lit up by the lights mounted on top of the rifles. Everyone remained quiet and started scanning the room with their lights. From time to time, Rodriguez would look for Sergeant Driver to see if he was giving any hand signals to communicate.

The MARCOs had changed into their camouflaged uniforms. Although it was dark, it was easy to differentiate the two Starfleet officers who were also slowly looking around.

Driver tapped an earpiece in his right ear. "Fire Team Bravo, report."

Sergeant Hall responded "Engineering secured."

Only the MARCOs heard her. Driver had always thought it was strange that Starfleet security didn't wear earpieces. The combadge system was fine when on board their ships, but in an alien environment, you wouldn't want potential enemies to hear your conversations. Driver gave a thumbs up signal to one of the Starfleet officers near him.

That officer attempted to access one of the computers nearby. After failing, he tapped his combadge.

"Bridge team to _Voyager_, we're clear. No sign of life. Both the bridge and engineering are in complete darkness. No systems operational."

"Acknowledged," said Lt. Tuvok.

"Ensign Kim, is their power drained?"

"No ma'am. At least some of the ship's core functions are running. Life support and gravity are seemingly up, or else the away teams would have reported that. In addition, the automated emergency beacon is on, and whatever is jamming our sensors seems to be working."

"There might be Cardassians in some of the other rooms?" asked Chakotay.

"That's a possibility, sir."

"Tell Lieutenant Carey he can beam over," said Janeway.

* * *

Lieutenant Joseph Carey had been the second ranking engineer assigned to _Voyager_. When the chief engineer died during the transport to the Delta Quadrant, he had presumed that he would take over engineering. To his dismay, Captain Janeway decided that the maquis engineer Torres was a better choice.

Carey had promised to remain as the second ranking engineer and to serve to the best of his ability. Most of the engineers were surprised. When Lt. Torres was promoted to the position over Carey, at least two Starfleet crewmembers filed complaints. Even more surprising was that Torres earned the promotion soon after being threatened with a court martial. She had punched Carey in the face and sent him to sickbay. Tuvok had wanted to confine Torres to the brig. In addition, many junior maquis members expressed to Chakotay that they were prepared to seize the ship over the incident. Chakotay had been livid and warned any potential mutineers that he would throw them in the brig himself.

Since then, Carey had served as an outstanding engineer. Torres was usually the engineer chosen for away missions, but this time was different. Any maquis members beamed over to a Cardassian ship would be a recipe for disaster. He was chosen to beam over to the Cardassian ship's engineering section and try to bring the ship back on line.

* * *

Neelix was finally ready to report his findings to the captain. During the situation briefing earlier, when he was shown an image of the Galor class warship, he thought it looked familiar. He looked through his ship's logs and determined that it appeared to be a ship which he had been warned to stay away from.

"Who are the Krowtonan Guard?" asked Captain Janeway.

"The Krowtonan were a mid-level military force in this region. They have been marginalized as of late after picking a fight with the Kazon."

"And they boarded the Cardassian ship?"

"My sources tell me that a small Krowtonan force boarded the ship and found it to be completely inoperational and devoid of life. The story then gets interesting. The rumor is that the ship is haunted. The Krowtonans found at least two ghosts on the ship. These ghosts are rumored to have killed three of the Krowtonan boarding party."

"I'll have the away teams stay alert for any 'ghosts,'" said Janeway.

"Well, the accounts differ. Only some of the Krowtonan said they saw ghosts. At least one Krowtonan acknowledged that all three casualties may have been hit with friendly fire. In the darkness, and under chaos, I can see that happening. Though, the Krowtonan are well-trained. In addition, one of the Krowtonan said he fired his energy weapon and the burst went through the ghost. This possibly led to friendly fire if the Krowtonan had decided to surround the ghost."

"Alleged ghost, Mr. Neelix. Let's not get too carried away here. There are reasonable explanations for everything."

"Yes, captain."

* * *

Carey worked on one of the computer consoles in the engineering section. The computer console turn on, but wouldn't allow him access to any of the ship's systems. It appeared he needed a security code.

He wished he had more light. He had asked two assistant engineers to keep their lights focused on the console while he was trying to get into the ship's systems. The rest of the room was dark, save three or four small spots where MARCO troops had been positioned.

Suddenly, he thought he saw something from the corner of his eye.

"Did anyone see that?"

"See what, sir?" asked one of his assistants.

"Nothing. I thought I saw something."

Carey spent a few more minutes trying to break the encryption and gain access to the computer systems. He soon decided that it would be a pointless endeavor. The engineering team and the MARCOs beamed back to _Voyager_.

* * *

"Next course of action?" asked the Captain in her follow up meeting in the briefing room. Teams of Starfleet security and MARCO troops had swept the entire Cardassian ship from bow to stern. There was nobody on board.

"We should torpedo the ship and then warp away," said Torres.

That seemed a bit rash. But Janeway was considering that course of action as well. Although Torres suggested it out of pure hatred for Cardassians, Janeway was considering it so that the Kazon would not get their hands on advanced technology such as food replicators.

"I'm not sure that's advisable," said Neelix.

"Why?" asked the Captain.

"Right now, we are technically in Krowtonan space. They've been weakened by their fight against the Kazon, and some of their other enemies have also found this an opportune time to attack while they are distracted. But they are still a significant force. They have probably ignored us because we do not seem to be a threat. As I've said before, the Krowtonan believe in ghosts. They would view torpedoing the haunted Cardassian ship as an action bringing extremely bad luck upon the entire region and dooming the entire region to be haunted by vengeful ghosts. It is likely this is the reason the Krowtonan themselves did not destroy the ship. In addition, a number of the other races in the region would view the destruction of the ship to be a sign of cruelty and disrespect of the dead. Something akin to burying a person face-down on your homeworld Earth."

The Captain sighed in frustration.

"There are so-called starship graveyards in this region," added Neelix. We can tow the ship to one of the nearby sites and that should be fine."

"Let's do that. And make sure we strip whatever technology off that ship before we leave it," said Janeway. "On another note: Counselor Shin, please convey my gratitude to Sergeant Driver for his team's participation in this away mission. I'm glad it went off without a hiccup. I look forward to future collaborations."

"Will do," responded Val.

* * *

Staff Sergeant Driver sat in his quarters after finishing up his after action report. He was glad to be getting back into the swing of things. He hadn't typed up such a report since _Voyager_ got stranded in the Delta quadrant. Of course, it was a boring report. Nothing happened on the Cardassian ship.

He reminisced about the first time he had to write such a report. He was a newly promoted squad leader. Those reports were shorter than the ones he soon had to write up as the platoon sergeant. But he hadn't been accustomed to paperwork. And so much. His first mission as a squad leader had brought his battalion to a planet which was trying to escape civil war. It was his first peacekeeping mission. But just about anything that happened required a report. Not just text summaries, but supplemented with diagrams and digital photographs. Speak with a civilian leader from a neighboring village, write a report. Award credits to local businessmen for their cooperation, write a report. It was a phenomenon many sergeants and lieutenants called "death by paperwork."

Soon, he felt some sadness. His current quarters were those originally assigned to Major Douglas, his former commanding officer. It was then that he realized he wouldn't be sending his after action report to the major. In fact, he wondered if he even had to write one up. He soon decided that he would address the report to Lieutenant Shin.

His thoughts were interrupted by his door chime.

"Enter," he said. But nobody did. He walked over to his door and the door automatically slid open. He looked around, but did not see anyone. He then caught sight of a padd that had been left on the ground in front of his doorway. He picked it up and read it with interest.

* * *

Driver knew that Shin had just wrapped up a meeting with the ship's captain and senior officers.

He approached Shin's quarters and hit the door chime. Nobody answered. Driver decided to wait for Shin to return. It was a short wait, only a couple of minutes.

"Sergeant, I was just about to come speak with you."

"Sir, I think we should speak in private."

"Sure, please come in."

The two walked into Val's quarters.

"I just received some interesting information." He handed Val the padd that he found on the floor.

Val looked at the padd. It contained several lines of information.

Name: Vetara

Class: Galor modified prototype

Function: Unmanned exploratory warship.

Mission profile: Assigned to explore Gamma quadrant.

Fate: ship disappeared in 2370 prior to reaching Bajoran wormhole. Ship presumed lost. Unmanned concept deemed a failure.

That was interesting background information. But even more interesting were the three lines at the bottom. Three command codes to unlock the ship's systems. The first was the code for the ship's computers. The second was the code to access the ship's flight controls, and the third was for access to the ship's weapons systems. For some reason, the flight controls and weapons had been segregated from the main computer.

"Where did you get this?" asked Val.

"It just appeared at my doorstep. But who cares! Let's beam over and see if it works," said an excited Driver.

"Why?"

"Don't you see, sir? This is a gift. This is our shot. We don't have to deal with the contingency of taking over the ship. We'll have our own ship. We'll be safe. Independent from Captain Janeway."

"Sergeant, you may be pleased to know that just several minutes ago, Janeway praised your team for their professionalism during the recent away mission."

"I am indeed pleased to know that, but who knows how long that will last? We need to at least evaluate this situation."

"What is this usage of the word "we," sergeant? Don't bring me into this. You're a grown man, you can do this yourself."

"Permission to speak, sir."

Val knew he wasn't going to like what was coming.

"Granted," he said reluctantly.

"We both know why the MARCOs are here."

"I know, I know. To capture the maquis. I understand that you think your troops will never get along with them. But this is a rash decision."

"This is a time sensitive situation, sir. We have a small window of opportunity. We wait and Janeway either destroys the ship or warps away." Scuttlebutt across the ship had been the Janeway would destroy the ship.

Driver could see Val was thinking things through.

"And, sir. I meant to say that the MARCOs wouldn't be here if Major Douglas hadn't asked for this mission." Driver just hit Val with a ton of bricks. Starfleet Command's first request for a MARCO platoon was initially denied by Colonel Jessik. Starfleet Command pressured Val to pull some strings, and Val contacted Douglas to try to persuade the colonel. The colonel relented and agreed, but only allowed two squads, instead of the regular three. In addition, the colonel placed Douglas in charge as the platoon leader. Douglas' rank and position had been a company commander, in charge of multiple platoons. But he decided to do this for his friend. In a way, Val was responsible for his friend's death.

Val resented that fact that Driver would try to guilt him into this. But Driver had been a good man, a good soldier. The knowledge that Major Aaron Douglas volunteered the MARCOs for this mission was not known to the other MARCOs, and Driver kept it a secret. In a private conversation, Driver had told Val that he did not consider Val to be the reason for Douglas' death. It was an accident. However, Driver needed help. He needed Val's cooperation. And right now, Driver was going to play any card he had, including guilt tripping his superior with the fact that if it hadn't been for Val's request, Douglas would be alive and the MARCOs would be back in the alpha quadrant not facing their current dilemma.

"Do any of the other MARCOs know about this?"

"Not yet, but they will if everything checks out."

"How do you know it's not a trap? A booby trap of some kind? The ship could be rigged to implode once you enter those codes."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. It'll only be the two of us."

"Great. That'll make me feel much better when I'm dead."

"Sir, you know there's no happy ending on this ship. The MARCOs and the maquis are not going to hold hands and sing. Janeway will eventually be forced to do something, and that something might be that she maroons us on a barren moon somewhere. I can't allow that."

"You don't need me!" insisted Val.

"Yes, I do. I can't go to the transporter room and just ask for myself to be beamed over. The transporter chief will ask her department head for authorization. You're a Starfleet lieutenant. The transporter chief will obey your orders."

Val was stymied. He eventually agreed to beam over with Sergeant Driver.

He was furious at the maquis ensign, Seska. He knew it must've been her who left the padd for Sergeant Driver. The command codes on the padd also contained the Cardassian symbol for the letter "O," twice. This represented the Obsidian Order, Cardassia's intelligence agency.

* * *

Val and Driver entered transporter room 1.

"Petty Officer, two to beam over to the Cardassian ship's bridge."

"Aye, sir," said the transporter chief.

In five seconds, Val and Driver were standing in complete darkness. Two beams of light sliced through the darkness.

Val walked over to one of the consoles.

"Would you like to do the honors?" he asked.

Driver punched the first code into the computer. In a split second, the entire bridge lit up. Multiple computer screens were lighting up.

"Yes!" said Driver triumphantly.

* * *

Ensign Seska smiled to herself. Things were working better than she could have ever dreamed. If she pushed the MARCOs into abandoning _Voyager_, she would have significantly less resistance when she finally put her plans into action to take the ship.

She just needed one more piece to fall into place before this phase of her plan could be called a success. She rounded up about eight or so of the maquis who she thought were most harassed by the MARCOs in the beginning weeks of the ship's arrival at the Delta Quadrant. After convincing them to seek revenge for their injuries, it was set into motion. Seska knew that a significant melee would ensue. That would push the MARCOs to realize that there would never be peace on board, and that they risk Janeway leaving them behind somewhere. For sure they would feel that the Cardassian ship was the safer option.

* * *

"Report," said Janeway from the bridge.

"Area secured," replied Tuvok. He had just left his station on the bridge to deal with the chaos in the mess hall.

Sergeant Matthew Raines walked up to Tuvok. He was the ranking MARCO there.

"This was not our fault," he declared. "Those maquis crewmen struck first." Raines pointed to three crewmembers that were lying on the ground, two of them bleeding profusely. A few other maquis were also injured. One MARCO suffered a broken wrist. Another had a head injury.

One of the Starfleet crewmen who were also dining in the mess hall confirmed to Tuvok that it was the maquis crewmen who started the scuffle. Tuvok gave permission for the maquis crewmen to take their wounded to sickbay.

Tuvok reported the situation to Janeway. She was not happy. She asked Chakotay to join her in her office.

Janeway tapped her combadge "Lieutenant Shin, please report to the Captain's Office."

"Lieutenant Shin is not on board _Voyager_," came the computer's voice.

"Where is he?"

"Unknown."

Janeway then made a simultaneous call to all transporter room and shuttlebays. "Has anyone seen Lieutenant Shin?"

"Yes, ma'am," came the response from transporter room 1.

"When did he beam out?"

"About 25 minutes ago, ma'am."

"Thank you, Janeway out."

"Ensign Kim, can you contact Lt. Shin and tell him I wish to speak with him in my office."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Janeway was furious. She had thought the MARCOs and the maquis could eventually get along. Now it seems that once just one MARCO was off the ship, the maquis took advantage. What confused her is why they didn't take advantage during the away missions when a third of the MARCOs were off the ship.

"What the hell was Shin and the MARCO leader doing on board the Cardassian ship anyway," Janeway asked herself.

Her door chime rang.

"Come," she said.

Val walked into the Captain's Office.

"You asked for me, ma'am?"

"Yes. Have you been briefed?"

"Briefed about what, ma'am?"

"The all out brawl that occurred in the mess hall between the MARCOs and the maquis."

"No, ma'am. When did this happen?"

"While you and Staff Sergeant Driver were having an adventure in the darkness over on the Cardassian ship."

"Ma'am, I don't know how this could've happened. I know for a fact Sergeant Driver specifically ordered his men to refrain from any hostilities with the maquis. I was there when he said it, multiple times."

"This was one of the few instances when the maquis started it," said Janeway.

"I'll have a talk with my people," said Chakotay.

"Do that, vice captain. Start with the ones in sickbay."

"Aye, ma'am."

Chakotay left the office and headed for sickbay.

Val was about to leave as well, but the captain stopped him.

"Lieutenant, please have a seat."

Val sat down.

"Val, I need your insight. I know you and Driver were on the Cardassian ship when this happened. You'll need to explain that to me, but first how do you think the MARCOs are going to react to this situation?"

Val didn't want to say it, but he had to tell the truth.

"Sadly, I think this will force the MARCOs' hand. Driver had planned to take the ship, and now he probably will."

"Over my dead body, Lieutenant. _Voyager_'s MY ship."

"No, not _Voyager_. The _Vetara_."

"The what?"

"The Cardassian ship, its name is the _Vetara_."

"To what end? It's not operational."

"Driver and I just brought it back online. It's fully functional."

"I see, and how did you manage that feat?" asked a curious Janeway.

Val was always fast on his toes.

"Starfleet Intel had given the MARCOs access codes to various Cardassian ships in case Chakotay and his cell had commandeered one. If we were confronted with a stolen Cardassian ship, we could send the access codes to shut it down and then re-start it with another set of access codes after the prisoners were secured."

"Why did none of the MARCOs use these codes on the first walk through?"

"Only I and Major Douglas knew about the codes. When I realized, I had Sergeant Driver look through some of Douglas' files. He found the codes and thought it was worth a try."

"Why didn't you tell ME?" asked Janeway.

"I thought there was some risk that it might be a booby trap. Starfleet Intel's source was not completely reliable. I thought you would prevent me from trying."

Val was a very good liar. It is no surprise that Seska thought he was an intelligence agent. However, he wasn't. He was just your average lawyer.

"So now that Driver has the _Vetara_, what does he plan to do with it?"

"I'm not sure," said Val. I think he really just wants to go home. He would have loved it if he and his troops could stay on _Voyager_, but he knew in his heart this animosity with the maquis would unravel any chance of that."

"I can order them to stay on board."

"I am sorry, captain. But I think this is the end of them taking orders from you. I had some hopes after the successful away mission, but this recent brawl just brings back the point that the maquis situation is unacceptable. There's no happy ending here."

"You're making me choose between the maquis and the MARCOs."

"No ma'am. The choice is done. The MARCOs are leaving."

"I am sure you'll miss them."

"Sorry, ma'am. I will be leaving as well."

"Lieutenant, you are a Starfleet officer, under my command. You will not abandon this ship."

"Captain, I have never been a part of your crew. I'm just a JAG oversight officer. I have no purpose here. But my basic piloting skills are of use on the _Vetara_. I am sorry to breach my loyalty towards you, but the MARCOs have a much better chance of reaching the alpha quadrant if I am with them."

"Why do you feel a stronger duty to the MARCOs than to Starfleet?"

Val was reluctant at first, but he decided to tell the captain about how he convinced Major Douglas to get permission to have the MARCOs join _Voyager_ on the mission to find Chakotay's cell. Val was responsible for Major Douglas' death. Val is responsible for the MARCOs being stranded in the Delta quadrant. He couldn't let the MARCOs just drift in space without a pilot.

Janeway finally understood why Val had been so protective of the MARCOs.

Although Val didn't ask for permission to disembark, Janeway said "Lieutenant, your request for permission to disembark and take command of the _Vetara_ is granted. Good luck to you."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Val stood up from his seat and started to walk towards the door.

"One more thing, lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I remember during one of our private conversations, I asked you why you are no longer on speaking terms with your friend DuPont. You said something to the effect of her making the wrong decision, and someone dying because of it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I wanted to let you know. Sometimes, you can make the right decision, and people still die. It is not your fault that Major Aaron Douglas is no longer with us. I hope you learn to accept that. As a captain, which you now are, you will probably have to deal with more such situations."

"Thank you for thoughts, Captain Janeway. I'll see you in the Alpha Quadrant."

"You will. Dismissed."

* * *

Ensign Seska was quite proud of herself. Mission Accomplished. She heard the door chime ring.

"Come in."

"I'll make this quick, ensign," said Val as he walked through the door. "I am very displeased with how you manipulated this entire situation."

"Awww. Did I hurt your feelings?"

"Save it."

"You've gotta admit, I'm pretty damn good."

"You can color me impressed. What I don't get is why you didn't just take the _Vetara_ and then flee to the Kazon. If all you wanted was replicator technology and advanced weaponry to deliver to the Kazon, you could've given them the _Vetara_."

"That's a laugh riot, counselor. A Galor class ship is not much compared to _Voyager_. I much prefer the ship I'm standing on right now, thank you very much."

"You should've taken the 'inferior' ship, ensign. I've already told Janeway that you are a Cardassian spy."

"No you haven't."

"How else was I going to explain to her how I got the access codes to the _Vetara_? Magic?"

"If Janeway knew, I'd be in the brig by now."

"Janeway knows, and she'll watch for who you're contacting so that she can get back whatever tech you've already given to the Kazon."

"You're bluffing. If it were true, why would you tell me?"

"Professional courtesy. One spy to another," said Val with a smile.

Val walked out of Seska's quarters and headed for his own.

* * *

Tom Paris had been waiting in the transporter room for a couple of minutes. Although he was not very close to Val Shin, they were friends. He also didn't want Val to leave without anyone saying goodbye, and Tom knew he was the closest friend Val had except for the MARCOs and possibly even including the MARCOs.

Val was the last one to beam over. All of the MARCOs and their equipment had transported over an hour ago. Val walked into the transporter room with a small backpack strapped on and a mid-sized duffle bag in his right hand.

"Hey Vince, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck," said Tom. Tom extended his hand. Val dropped his bag onto the floor and shook Tom's hand.

"Thanks Tom, I appreciate it. Oh, by the way, my friends call me Val."

"I know. It's just that I once had a serious relationship that fell apart with a girl named Valerie and I wince every time I say that name. Sorry, man. It didn't seem like you minded when I called you Vince."

"Actually, I don't. No worries. I just found it strange."

"Oh, Captain Janeway said that we would stay in contact for as long as we can. It will probably be at least several weeks before we are out of communications range. I wish we could keep our warp cruising speed a tiny bit slower so that we could convoy home together."

"Thanks for the thought Tom. I think _Voyager_ should go maximum cruising speed. It's the right call. We'll meet up eventually."

"Yeah. Oh, and Tuvok said that he would keep an eye on the two maquis crewmembers you mentioned to him. He said you gave him some sort of inside information from Starfleet Intel?"

"Yea. I was going to tell the captain, but I thought she'd probably blow it off as my paranoia against the maquis."

"Care to share?"

"You can ask Tuvok. Tell him I said you can have a copy of the file. The encrypt password is Obsidian."

Crewman DuPont entered the transporter room.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said.

"Oh, not interrupting," said Paris. He walked backwards toward the doorway while facing Val. "I am due on the bridge. Good luck, counselor," said Paris as he raised his eyebrows in a quick gesture. He then turned around and left the transporter room.

"Hi V," said DuPont.

"Hey, how are ya?"

"Okay. I'm sorry to see you go."

"Nah. It's no big deal. We'll meet up again."

"I'll miss you."

"Nah. You'll forget about me soon enough."

"No I won't."

"Well, just in case you do, I give you permission to," Val joked.

"That's not funny."

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

"I shouldn't have defended Kirkland and Lewis."

Morgan Kirkland and Stan Lewis were two members of the maquis who had been caught by Starfleet. During their interrogations, intelligence officers got a little rough because time was of the essence and they had to find a hidden bomb. As a result, DuPont petitioned the court to suppress their confessions and the court agreed. Subsequently, Kirkland and Lewis were involved in the raid that killed Petty Officer Alejandro Rodriguez, Corporal Lorenzo Rodriguez' brother.

"You were a defense attorney. You did your job."

"Six Starfleet crewman died because of that."

"No, Karen. That wasn't your fault."

Val placed both of his hands under DuPont's and held them for a few seconds. Then he lightly bounced them up and down.

"It wasn't your fault."

Ironically, it was such tactics by defense attorneys which led the JAG office to send their officers to oversee interrogations and make sure they didn't get out of hand. In effect, Val would never have been sent on this particular field assignment, and perhaps the MARCOs wouldn't have either.

When Val let go of DuPont's hands, she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She placed it in Val's hand.

Val opened his hand and saw two Starfleet rank pips.

"You're a captain now. You should have the appropriate rank insignia."

Val laughed. "Thanks. I'm not a real captain though. I can't just add two pips."

"Well, Captain Janeway gave two to Paris as a field promotion."

"Paris was re-instated. Not promoted. But I get your point. Thanks for the thought."

The two of them hugged for a brief moment. As they parted, Val brought his head down and they touched foreheads for a second.

"Be a good captain," she said.

Val then picked up his bag from the floor and walked over to the transporter pad.

"Don't volunteer for any away missions, okay? They're dangerous," he said to DuPont.

DuPont smiled.

"Energize."

* * *

Val was laying down on his new bed. He was a little surprised. He had heard that Cardassians lived in very Spartan quarters. But here he was, in the _Vetara_'s commander's quarters, and it was quite to his satisfaction. 600 square feet was not bad. Of course, his quarters on Deep Space 5 were close to 1,000 square feet. But 600 would suffice. The queen sized bed mattress was quite comfortable.

Then, something caught his eye. The room was dimly lit so he increased the lighting. He was startled. A female Cardassian had somehow entered his room.

"Stop right there," he said.

He tapped his combadge that was sitting on his bedside table, "Security to the captain's quarters!"

When the female figure slowly approached, Val reached for his phaser pistol.

She kept approaching, and Val fired. The beam of light passed right through her.


	3. Chapter 3 In Command

Three MARCOs bursted into Val's room. They only person they saw was Val, holding a small hand phaser.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked a corporal.

"Yes, I'm fine." There was nobody else there. Val must have imagined the intruder.

"You fleet boys are easily spooked," said one of the privates.

"Come again?" asked Val.

"Your face, sir. You're as white as a bedsheet."

Val laughed silently to himself.

"Maybe it's cuz Halloween just passed a week ago. You should've stayed away from the horror movies, sir," said the corporal.

"Maybe," said Val. "Thank you for your team's quick response."

"No problem, sir," said the corporal. "If it makes you feel better, the Voyager engineer was easily spooked as well. What was his name, Gary something?"

"Carey. Joseph Carey."

"Right. You could tell something spooked him, though he wouldn't admit it. Have a good night, sir."

The three MARCOs left Val and he went back to bed. Before falling asleep, he made a note to himself to speak with Lt. Carey about what he might've seen during his time in the Vetara's engineering section."

* * *

The next morning, Val had basically forgotten the incident that happened in his quarters the night before. He had a brief conversation with Carey. The engineer didn't see anything. He thought he might've seen another person in the distance, at least twenty feet away from him. But once he shined his light in that direction, there was nobody there.

The ship seemed to be running fine. For the time being, Val charted a course which trailed behind Voyager. No piloting skills needed thus far. The power systems seemed to be running at optimal. The Vetara was a sturdy ship.

That night, he decided to read up on the systems of the Cardassian ship. He would familiarize himself with the energy systems first. Then, perhaps the propulsion systems.

As he started getting tired, he put down his padd and started to lower the lights. He again noticed an intruder in his quarters. But this time, it was a different person.

"You're not real," he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes tightly and started blinking hard. But the figure did not disappear.

Val froze for a second, transfixed by what he was seeing. But he soon gathered his wits and tapped his combadge laying on his nightstand. "Security to the captain's quarters."

The woman slowly walked toward his bed. She had her hands up slightly in front of her, as if to signal that she was not going to harm him. She reached his bed, sat down and touched his hand. Val felt pressure on his hand. This was not a ghost.

"I'm not a threat to you, captain," said the woman. "I'm yours."

"Mine? What do you mean, mine?" asked Val.

"I belong to this ship's commander. I belong to you," said the woman.

Just then, a team of MARCOs came in, rifles at the ready.

"Hold fire!" shouted Val. He wanted to hear more from the woman. But more importantly, he still wasn't sure whether the phaser fire would go through the woman like it did the previous night, and wind up hitting him.

The woman suddenly disappeared, but this time, the MARCOs had caught a glimpse of her before she did.

"Sorry I doubted you, sir," said one of the privates. It was the same team that had entered his quarters the night before. "I guess ghosts do exist."

"That wasn't a ghost," said an annoyed Val. He wasn't annoyed with the MARCOs. It was just an annoying overall situation. He grabbed his uniform jacket and headed out.

"Where are you going?" asked Corporal Santiago.

"Engineering!" said Val as he quickly walked toward the closest turbolift.

"Are we following you, sir? Or are we returning to our posts?" asked Santiago.

"Your choice, corporal. I won't need a guard detail if that's what you're asking. It wasn't hostile."

The three MARCOs followed Val into the turbolift.

* * *

"Officer on deck!" said one of the MARCOs as Val entered engineering. They stiffened up and stood at attention.

"As you were," said Val. The team of four MARCOs standing guard in engineering returned to simply milling about.

"Corporal Logan, please run a systems diagnostic, ship-wide. I want a record of every system that has been accessed in the past hour."

"Sir?"

"The screen in front of you. Review the ship's systems and tell me what programs have been running in the past hour."

"Sir, with all due respect," said Logan. "I'm a marine. I don't know anything about ship's systems. If anyone in this room is running a ship-wide diagnostic, I think it's you," she said jokingly.

Val walked over to the console and Logan stepped out of the way. He moved his fingers quickly across the touchscreen and read through the information. He spotted the program he was looking for. It had been activated in the past 15 minutes, and it was also activated around the time he thought he saw the "ghost" the previous night. It worried him that there were about a few timecodes in between when the program appears to have been briefly activated. He pushed a couple of buttons and the hologram appeared in the middle of engineering.

A few of the MARCOs reflexively brought their rifles up, but Val held up his left hand to signal them to stand down.

Val wasn't sure how interactive the hologram was, but from what he had seen thus far, it would be one of the higher functioning holograms in his experience.

"Identify yourself," said Val. He actually felt a little ridiculous demanding that, since it should probably be the hologram demanding that Val identify himself. After all, this was a Cardassian ship and she was a Cardassian hologram.

"I am Kejal. I am this ship's caretaker."

"Caretaker?"

"The _Vetara_ was converted from a warship to a prototype unmanned exploration ship. There was some concern that the ship would run into unforeseen malfunctions along the way. I was designed to monitor the ship's systems and carry out repairs if necessary."

"You're the ship's engineer?"

"Perhaps repair technician is an appropriate designation. My program self-activates once a month unless a malfunction alert triggers to bring me online."

"Why were you in my quarters last night?"

"I am not an original program. Maintenance stills were added on top of an existing program. My original designation was the commander's consort. Those subroutines are still active in my programming. I am not allowed to delete them. Even if I were, I believe it would cause serious damage to me, as the consort program is the "skeleton" of my current program. The consort subroutines were dormant until your presence was registered in your quarters."

"Interesting…" said Staff Sergeant Driver. He had just arrived in engineering. He was notified by one of his corporals about the holographic program.

"What about the other hologram?" asked Santiago. "The one in the captain's quarters 20 minutes ago."

"That was also me. I took a form that would be more pleasing to your captain," said Kejal.

Val was a little embarrassed. He had hoped the discussion wouldn't move in this direction.

"Yes, I noticed that it was the same program that ran during both nights," said Val as he pointed to the screen.

"You're into Orions, huh?" asked Santiago. Earlier in the night, Kejal had taken on the appearance of an Orion female from Val's past. Once he recognized her, he knew she wasn't a ghost.

"Maintain your military bearing, corporal," said Sergeant Driver.

"Yes, sir," said Santiago. He was trying to lighten the mood. In the end, he respected Val as a superior.

"I'm going to deactivate your program temporarily and transfer you to the captain's office. I'd like to get some questions answered, but with less of an audience," said Val. There were now over a dozen MARCO troopers assembled in engineering. News apparently spreads fast.

"Captain," said Kejal. "There are no holo-emitters in the gul's office."

"Okay," said Val. "Sergeant Driver, please clear engineering."

"You heard the man," said Driver. "Everyone out. Corporal Logan, please take your team to the armory until I call for you."

"Yes, sergeant."

"Sergeant Driver," said Val. "You can stay."

"Sir, with your permission, I'd like for Matt and Julie to stay as well."

"That's fine."

After the room cleared, Val continued to ask questions of the Vetara's caretaker.

"Kejal, is it?"

"Yes, captain."

"That's a nice name."

"It's Bajoran. It means independent."

"Bajoran?"

"The engineer in charge of the unmanned exploration ship program, Glinn Daro, served a rotation on Bajor during the Union's administration. He picked up some words from the Bajoran language. He thought Kejal would be an interesting name for the ship as it would operate independently. However, Gul Evek was in charge of the program. He was displeased and would not allow a Bajoran name for a Cardassian ship. Evek decided to name this ship Vetara, after his flagship, the Vetar. Daro then decided to name me Kejal."

"And Evek didn't care about that?"

"I'm not sure Evek knew. In any event, there were multiple rumors that some Cardassian guls assigned to the Bajor sector kept Bajoran consorts."

"Which brings me to this question: why is there a consort on a commanderless ship?"

"This ship was originally designed to have a crew. My program was initially installed prior to the modification to unmanned exploration."

"So you're saying a consort is a default program on all Cardassian ships?" asked Driver.

"On most warships, yes. Cardassian military officers are not allowed to bring their spouses or families on post with them. I believe Starfleet has more relaxed policies on that front. A consort program was deemed to enhance the comfort levels of Cardassian commanders on long deployments."

"Wonderful," said Val sarcastically. "And you said I can't delete those subroutines from your program."

"No, you cannot."

"We can trade quarters if you like, sir," joked a smiling Driver.

"Not funny," said Val.

"This ship has imprinted Captain Shin as the commander of this vessel," said Kejal. "Regardless of which quarters he sleeps in."

"I'd like to get to that," said Val. "Although I'm glad that you see me as your captain, why is that? I'm a Starfleet officer on a Cardassian ship. Why am I not registered as an intruder on your ship?"

"That is complicated. I am unsure as to whether you would like me to explain in front of your men. The explanation might involve details you wish to keep private."

Val thought about dismissing the MARCO sergeants. He was unsure what Kejal might say. However, he wanted to build trust with them, so he allowed them to stay

"You may explain with my sergeants present."

"Last night, when I first appeared in your quarters, you had already been confirmed as one of the individuals who had entered in the activation codes to bring this ship online."

"So if Sergeant Driver had those quarters, you would have deemed him this ship's commander?"

"No."

"But he punched in the first code."

"That isn't enough. However, you match other criteria. Last night, after I saw your face, I ran a facial recognition program through our databanks. I read through your file, and you are now deemed to be this ship's commander."

"My file?"

"Yes. Here," said Kejal as she brought up something which looked like a personnel file regarding Val.

"I can't read Cardassian," said Val.

"Oh. Of course, captain. That's your name," she said as she pointed to some words on the screen next to an image of his face. "And this says 'Starfleet officer Val Shin is a level 2 Bureau operative.'"

"Come again," said Val.

"I do not understand that request," said Kejal.

"I mean, what does that mean? Level 2 operative."

"I do not understand. It means what it says. You are a level 2 operative. One step above a level 3 and one step below a level 1."

"What's the Bureau?" Val asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Ah. I believe you wish for your sergeants to leave the room?"

"No. No. You can explain with them here."

"But, I don't understand," said Kejal. Now it was she who had the puzzled look on her face. "It is my understanding that Bureau operatives sometimes feign ignorance to deny knowledge of their agency's existence to civilians."

"No. no," said Val. "This is real ignorance." Val felt stupid for saying that. "Please explain to me what the Bureau is."

"The Bureau is shorthand for the Federation's Bureau of Interstellar Security; or Bureau of Interstellar Stability. The Obsidian Order is not entirely sure. We only know that the humans call it the Bureau and that it was created pursuant to Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet Charter."

"And you think I belong to this organization?"

"The file says you do."

"You're a thirty-one!" said Driver in surprise.

"Wait, what? You've heard of this?" asked Val.

"Yea. Well, rumors of it. Starfleet Intel, Sub-Division 31. Clandestine activities group, interstellar security. It's rumored they poach MARCO officers from time to time."

"There's no such thing as sub-division 31. Or the Bureau, for that matter. And I'm not a level 2 operative of this phantom bureau."

"Yea, well, that's what a thirty-one *would* say," said Driver.

"Well, then what would someone who's not a thirty-one say? That he is one?" retorted an exasperated Val.

"The captain doesn't strike me as a thirty-one," said Sergeant Hall. "But then again, I guess that's the point."

"Oh lord," said Val.

"Of course it exists," said Kejal. "But it is the Order's understanding that the Bureau exists outside the command structure of Starfleet Intelligence. The Bureau appears to be a civilian run operation. It is confusing that some Bureau operatives are uniformed Starfleet officers. There is a note about that in your personnel file, Captain Shin."

"Okay, okay," said Val, who appeared to resign his effort in arguing against the existence of the Bureau. "Let's run with the premise that I'm a so called level 2 operative. It now makes even less sense that you would allow me to command this ship. Would I not be an even greater threat to you? Shouldn't you reject someone like me from commanding this ship?"

"No," said Kejal. "My particular set of directives makes it so that you are now the ship's rightful commander."

"Why?" asked Val.

"This ship is tasked to explore the Gamma quadrant. Under normal circumstances, only a Cardassian Gul would be authorized to command a Galor-class ship. However, because this is an unmanned ship, there is no commander assigned. At the same time this project commenced, the various security agencies of the Alpha quadrant powers met and created an ad hoc alliance for the sole purpose of evaluating any threats from the Gamma quadrant. This alliance comprised of the Obsidian Order, the Romulan Tal Shiar, and the human Bureau. The three agency alliance all sent out ships and agents into the Gamma quadrant and agreed to share information and coordinate actions if threats were identified. The directives embedded for the Vetara's mission states that in the absence of any Cardassian officer, the ship can be lawfully commanded by any officer of the Tal Shiar or Bureau once this ship has left the Alpha quadrant. Because of that specific wording, I have decided that Captain Shin has assumed command of the Vetara. The exobiology tech concurred, and we entered the commands into the central computer accordingly."

"Exobiology tech?" asked Val.

"Yes. I am the Vetara's maintenance technician onboard. The ship has a second holographic program. He is a somewhat less complex program than I, but he is an exobiology survey technician. He keeps track of the various alien species this ship gathers information on."

"Where is he?" asked Driver.

"His program activates once every three months, unless called on by me. His station is research lab 2 on E deck."

Driver tapped his earpiece to open a channel to his men.

"MARCOs, stay away from E deck."

Driver didn't want any of his men running into the hologram by mistake. His six corporals all acknowledged the order.

"You mentioned that Tal Shiar or Bureau agents assume command in the absence of Obsidian Order agents, correct?"

"In absence of any Cardassian officer, whether Obsidian Order or military from the First through Twelfth Orders."

"So, I would lose command once a Cardassian officer arrives onboard?"

"No. Under normal circumstances, a Cardassian Gul commands his ship and remains in command until he cedes it to a succeeding commander, or is legally removed by a Legate from Central Command. That chain of succession protocol remains in effect for Tal Shiar or Bureau agents who assume command of this ship. You may also be relieved if you were to disobey a direct order from Central Command, or Gul Evek. Seeing as we are in the Delta quadrant, I view those scenarios as unlikely."

"Interesting…" thought Val silently. He didn't want to express his concern, but he had worried what might happen if Seska were to arrive and claim this ship as hers. Val bet she didn't think about this whole chain of succession tidbit as she basically gave the ship to him. Then again, Seska was a smart cookie. She may have been willing to lose the Vetara forever just in order to have a shot at taking Voyager. In any case, Seska had grossly miscalculated. Val had a brief conversation on a secure channel with Tuvok earlier in the day. Janeway had already authorized some type of trap to catch Seska red-handed if she were to attempt any further communication with the Kazon-Nistrim. Janeway decided that if Seska were to behave herself the rest of the way, Janeway would forgive her past mistakes. But if Seska fell for the trap, Tuvok would throw her in the brig for the rest of the voyage. Val thought that was fair. After all, he did tell Seska that Janeway knew.

Val had kept secret the part about Seska being an Obsidian Order agent. He had a feeling Janeway would want to giver her a second chance, and if Seska were willing to keep herself out of trouble from now on, it would be better if the crew treated her as they do now. No need to get a fourth or a third of the ship wanting to hang her simply because of her race, which would almost certainly be the case if the maquis knew she were a Cardassian. He only told Tuvok that he suspected Seska of communicating with a hostile enemy. It was up to Tuvok to figure out the exact nature of what Seska was doing.

Val's thought returned to the scene in front of him. He noticed that they had been talking for a while now. He was satisfied with the answers that he had gotten thus far, and wanted to retire to bed. He was already half-asleep about an hour ago. The sudden intrusion spiked Val's adrenaline levels, but now he was starting to feel a little tired again. He was comfortable with assuming that the holographic repair technician would not see him as an intruder onboard this Cardassian ship.

"I think that's enough for tonight. I'm going to spend some time digesting this information," said Val. "Sergeants, you are dismissed. Kejal, please return to monitoring the ship's systems."

"Yes, sir," said Driver.

"I will continue to watch over the ship's systems," said a compliant Kejal.

* * *

Val took off his uniform jacket and changed into his pajama pants. He really liked the feel of silk on his skin. He fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

In the middle of the night, after a couple hours of deep sleep. He started to rouse. He turned over to look at the small clock on his nightstand. He bumped into something and was immediately startled.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed and jumped out of bed. He blinked a couple of times and put his hand up to his face. A couple of his fingers were digging out the dried protein and salt that accumulated in his eyes during his sleep. His heart was pounding rapidly and strongly, but he tried to calm down.

"Kejal, what are you doing?" he asked as calmly and quietly as possible.

"Are you not pleased?" asked Kejal. "Your file suggested Navaar would make you happy. I am your woman. I want to make you happy."

"Wait. Stop right there." Val took a second to compose himself. "Kejal, you are not my woman."

"But, captain. I am."

"No, you're not."

"Am I not attractive enough? Would you prefer I take on another appearance? A human?" asked Kejal, eager to please Val.

"No, please don't. You're only going to confuse me even more. Your Cardassian appearance is appropriate."

Kejal's hologram flickered for second and she returned to her Cardassian appearance.

"Is this better? You prefer a Cardassian woman as your consort?"

Val put a hand to his forehead. He thought about how he could make himself clearer. For a second, he also worried about Kejal's feelings, but then wondered if holograms had feelings.

"Okay, how's this: I release you from your consort duties. You are free."

"Being your consort is no burden," said Kejal, smiling. "I wish to make you happy."

"Surely you have other desires."

"Your happiness is my sole concern."

Val was thinking the Cardassians were very thorough in programming their mistresses.

"How about your other traits? You're the caretaker of this ship, right? Your maintenance and repair duties. Aren't those your concern as well?"

"They are minor. Nothing ever needs to be repaired. Sporadic monitoring of the ship's systems takes less than a minute."

"Well, what do you do when I'm out and about? When I'm duty on the bridge?"

"My program remains inactive."

"Let's do that. Whenever you're not on duty as the ship's repair tech, you'll stay inactive."

"But… I don't want to stay deactivated," said Kejal. Val wasn't sure, but he thought he almost heard a hint of sadness in her voice. This hologram was probably more lifelike than Val had first imagined. In fact, Kejal was probably more similar to the Doctor aboard Voyager. He too had made some requests to have control over when he could activate or deactivate.

"So, you do have a desire other than to please me," said Val.

"No…" Kejal seemed confused. "I wish to stay activated so I can please you."

"But… what if it pleases me to have you stay inactive."

Kejal looked saddened. "As you wish." Her program disappeared.

Val smiled. Finally, he could get some rest. He went back to bed and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he could sense a guilt trip coming on. What if Kejal had independent wishes and truly didn't want to stay inactive? She would have to obey his orders and stay inactive, but what if she wanted something else? It bothered him for a few seconds.

He decided that he needed sleep. Tomorrow, he would speak with Ensign Harry Kim from Voyager to see if he could teach Val some basic skills on programming personality traits in a hologram. He wanted to give Kejal a hobby or something. Val knew Harry would perform maintenance on the Doctor's holographic program from time to time. The Doctor had a boatload of hobbies.

* * *

Val managed to get in about 5 hours of sleep. For breakfast, he had a new cereal replicated for him. Another ancient children's cereal. This one was called Count Chocula. It was basically chocolate for breakfast. Val thought of it when one of the MARCOs mentioned the Earth holiday Halloween a couple nights ago. Val only had it once or twice when he was a child. He doused it with milk and then started eating. As he ate, he read through the status reports from Sergeant Julie Hall from the last 8-hour shift. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Ensign Kim sent him a message about holo-programming. He said he would be glad to give tutorials about tweaking holographic programs. However, Janeway had him assigned to multiple projects at present. He could get back to Val in a couple of days. Also, Kim mentioned that Lieutenant Paris was a prolific holo-programmer and that Val might be wise to ask for Tom's help. When Val reached out to Tom, he also responded that he was currently swamped with various assignments. He made the same offer to help in a couple days time.

As he thought about what hobbies he might add to Kejal's programming, the thought also occurred to him whether he should train the MARCOs to learn to operate some of the ship's basic systems. Perhaps Kejal could teach them rudimentary skills. It would be important. But mostly, Val thought the MARCOs might be bored. The bridge and engineering each had a fire team standing guard in rotating 8-hour shifts. He would speak with Sergeant Driver to see what his opinions were about having his MARCOs perform other tasks from time to time.

Val spent most of his afternoon on the bridge. He further familiarized himself with the ship's piloting controls. Although the writing was in Cardassian, he had learned to recognize the basic words that went with the respective controls. He practiced how to set speeds, and how to perform basic maneuvers involving yaw, pitch, and roll.

It was only the third day Val and the MARCOs had adopted the Vetara as their new home. Already, Voyager was several hours ahead of them. With each day that passed, an additional 2 hours and 13 minutes was added to the gap. It would be a while until Voyager sailed out of communications range, though. And Val knew that Voyager would probably stop at some planets along the way out of curiosity. There would be ample opportunities for the ships to meet up. Val thought that it was possible for there to be several "bunching up" points for as long as the next year. He thought about whether he would take Vetara out to explore. If he did, that might pose a problem for catching up with Voyager. At the same time, he probably would want to allow the MARCOs some shore leave from time to time, just as a change of scenery. He put that train of thought to rest and decided that he would cross that bridge when it appeared.

After ten hours on duty, Val headed back to his quarters. He decided to have a meatball sub for dinner. After dinner, he relaxed a little bit and read a novel. A mystery thriller. He took a shower, and then climbed into bed. This time, he wouldn't be caught off guard when Kejal materialized in his quarters. At exactly 1130 hours. That was apparently the default programming. He sat up against the headboard, counting down the seconds. When Kejal materialized, she saw that he was expecting her.

"You would like me to deactivate," Kejal said in a sad voice.

"Not yet," said Val, holding up his left hand as if to signal halt.

A smile came to Kejal's face.

"You would like to engage in intimate relations," she said, still smiling, and walking towards Val's bed.

"No," he said, but smiled back. "Please, have a seat." Val pointed a chair near his bed. About 3 feet to the right of his bed was his desk and chair. Kejal sat down, and swiveled the chair to face Val.

Kejal still had a somewhat goofy grin on her face. It left Val a little unsettled.

"Kejal, I'd like to discuss your programming a little bit."

"Sure, captain."

"I know I can't take the consort subroutines out of your program, is there a way for me to keep them dormant?"

"I do not know. In any event, I would not like to remain dormant."

"I know, I know. I think I can compensate for that soon enough. How about the place you materialize, can I change that? I would like to assign you your own quarters and maybe you can materialize there at night."

"No, only your quarters have the appropriate holo-emitters. No other quarters are equipped in this fashion. Besides, what would I do in a room by myself?"

Val thought about the holo-emitters. It should be easy enough to rip them out of his quarters and install them elsewhere. If necessary, he could always just change quarters. Though, he had gotten attached to the gul's quarters. The next biggest quarters were less than half the size.

"Well, we'll get to that as well. In the next couple days, I am going to attempt to add more subroutines to your program. Maybe give you some interests or hobbies or something to spend your time with."

"Captain, you're going to alter my program?"

"Well, I won't subtract anything out of it, if that concerns you. You'll still be yourself, except with a newly learned skill or something. Maybe music or something. Would you like that?"

"I don't know," said Kejal.

"Well, we'll discuss it together. I won't give you a skill you don't want. We'll work it through."

"Okay," said Kejal in a neutral voice. She didn't sound too excited about it, but Val thought it would be better for her to have some interest in her existence other than pleasuring him in intimate relations.

"Well, I'm going to get some shut eye. Will you please return to engineering?"

"I'm not allowed," said Kejal.

"What do you mean? I just allowed you."

"No. My programming doesn't allow me to perform any function other than as your consort from 2330 hours to 0730 hours, roughly corresponding with first watch. Either I am serving you, or I am inactive."

"But what if the ship needs repairs during those hours?"

"Then… I guess you would have to carry them out. Or one of your men."

"But… what if I'm not here? What if nobody is here? You're the ship's emergency repair technician."

"If you were not here, captain, then my consort subroutines would not be active. As long as you are here in your quarters, during this time frame I cannot be anywhere else."

Val couldn't believe he just walked into such a random catch-22. Normally, he could see such things coming. He was now seriously considering changing quarters. He knew Kejal would be sad if he deactivated her. Or, would she? Do holograms having feelings. Damnit, he thought to himself. He just had this debate with himself the previous night.

"Okay, well, I'm going to sleep. Please feel free to play with the computer," said Val as me rolled over to face the viewport into space.

"Play with the computer? What does that mean?" asked Kejal.

"You know, browse the library. Watch a movie or something. There are earbuds in my backpack."

"Why would I do such things?"

"I don't know. To relax? Occupy yourself with something? You said you didn't want to remain dormant."

"But… I'm an interactive hologram," said Kejal. "If I'm not interacting with you, or doing something for you, then I'm dormant. I can't be a passive receiver of information. Assimilating your computers entire library of video files would probably take me a matter of minutes."

"Okay." Val sat back up in his bed. He thought of what he could do to interact with Kejal. Other than using her in a physical way.

"Grab the padd on my desk. Read to me," said Val.

"Read what?"

"Anything. Pick something from the library."

Kejal started reading the introductory chapter of a textbook on advanced astrophysics. She read it at a fast pace. Her voice was somewhat monotone. Val couldn't decide whether her reading it was putting him to sleep, or annoying the bejeezus out of him. He would have been okay if it put him to sleep. Though, he was afraid it was doing more of the latter.

"Okay, okay," said Val as he put up one of his hands to signal for Kejal to stop. It dawned on him that he was going that a lot in the past few days. "Slow down your speed. And don't just read it as if you're reading it for yourself. Read it as if you were talking to me. In a conversation."

Kejal changed her tone and speed a little bit. It sounded more pleasant. However, it didn't do it. It was still annoying Val more than anything else.

"Okay, stop." Once Kejal stopped reading, Val thought for several moments.

"Okay, bring up my personnel record. Read that to me."

"Wouldn't you already know all this information?" asked a curios Kejal.

"Well, I know who I am. I'm wondering how accurately Cardassian Central Command got it," said Val, smiling.

Kejal brought up Val's service record and started reading.

"It says here you were born in 2343, which gives you 29 years right now. You were born in an area called New York, which would make you an American by culture. Your personnel profile in Cental Command's database was last edited over a year ago. At that time, in standard American units, you were 5 foot 6 inches tall, and weighed 138 pounds, with standard fluctuation of 5 pounds heavier or lighter depending on your current eating habits and activity levels. You have black hair, dark brown eyes. You are right-handed."

"Stop. Those are physical descriptors, read to me about my past? Where did I go to school? Where did I live? That kind of thing."

"Our database does not include that sort of information."

"What was my first posting out of the academy? Where did I spend my summer between second and third years?"

"We do not have access to your Starfleet service record, except for your graduation date from the Academy and whether you were an active officer at the time of the last update to your file. It says here that you were."

"What about my Bureau file, you have that?"

"Of course not. The Bureau doesn't share their files about their operatives. Although, once in a while, they will share lists of their operatives whom the directors believe have been captured behind enemy lines. They sometimes offer spy exchanges with the various agencies, such as Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar. The recent alliance strengthened those exchanges."

"And I was on one of those lists?"

"No. But then again, you hadn't been captured. So you wouldn't show up on that list."

"So how was I identified as a Bureau operative?"

"I doesn't specify exactly. However, there are two typical routes for the Obsidian Order classifying you as a Bureau operative. The first would be if you self-identified as a Bureau operative to an Order agent. This could have happened assigned during a joint Bureau-Order task force. The second route would be if an Obsidian Order agent discovered you were a Bureau agent, without you having admitted it. It is unclear how you were identified. But normally, if an Order agent classifies you as a Bureau agent, he or she would not write something such as 'Mr. X identified to me that he was with the Bureau.' The order agent would have just written in the file that you were Bureau."

"Who was the agent that wrote my file?"

"Multiple people appeared to have edited your file. No agents though. One Order asset, and two analysts. Navaar seems to have written 90% of your file."

"She was an Order analyst?" Val asked in surprise.

"An asset."

"What?"

"It was an aspect of the Federation-Cardassian Treaty of 2370. Both the Obsidian Order and Starfleet Intelligence were allowed to have certain "assets" in the demilitarized zone who would report to them regarding the condition of their peoples. As some Federation colonies and Cardassian colonies switched hands, the situation become complicated when some colonists decided to stay, and found themselves under new administration. Because there were transparency concerns, each side was allowed to have people on the opposite side of the border to report how their ethnic compatriots were treated under foreign administration. Navaar was an Order asset who would occasionally report on how ethnic Cardassians were being treated by the Federation authorities. All intelligence assets were registered with both governments."

"And she labeled me as a Bureau operative?"

"Yes. She was the initial determining factor. Her identification was then analyzed by the home office on Cardassia. Various analysts scoured through as much information as they could find about you. Your travel history and your activities. They then approved your classification as an operative. They did not specify which activities, and your file does not explain why level 2 was attributed to you."

"I see…" The information surprised Val a great deal. When Kejal had taken the appearance of Navaar, Val had surmised that a Cardassian officer may have seen the two of them together while in the DMZ. He would not have guessed that Navaar herself was a Cardassian officer, or reported to one.

Kejal proceeded to read through the entry, which was mostly a history of Navaar's interactions with Val during his mission to a newly annexed planet in the DMZ. Val was a part of the Starfleet contingent that surveyed the planet. He was the deputy oversight officer on the team. Part of his assignment was to make sure that proper humanitarian supplies were reaching all the colonists on the planet, which included an enclave of Cardassians. To his surprise, the Cardassians seemed to get along very well with their human neighbors. There were also a handful of Bolians. Navaar was the captain of a cargo freighter which helped distribute the supplies. She had been contracted by the UFAID, the acronym for the United Federation Agency for Interplanetary Development. The civilian agency was in charge since armed ships were not allowed to enter the demilitarized zone. Navaar was the first Orion Val had ever met. She was named after an ancestor who happened to be one of the first Orions Earth Starfleet made contact with. Val and Navaar got along well.

As Val was thinking back to his first meeting with Navaar, something he heard piqued his interest.

"Wait, wait. Repeat what you just said," requested Val.

"Navaar slept with you during the last three days of your mission."

If Val had been drinking something, he would have most likely spit it out and started coughing. He almost couldn't believe that was in the file. Though, perhaps he should have anticipated something along those lines. But, who in their right mind would include such a detail. And a possibly misleading detail at that.

"Can you edit my file?"

"Of course not. I'm not an Order agent!" said a surprised.

"But what if something in the file is erroneous?"

"The Order does not make mistakes."

"Then why would it ever need to be edited?"

"To add information."

"Okay, then can you add information to that file?"

"No, I cannot. I am not an Order agent."

Val was silent for a few seconds.

"But… I suppose you could enter add information. It is your file. I can enter it under your name. Please just put your thumbprint on the padd."

Kejal handed him the padd and Val placed his thumb on it.

"What would you like me to add?" asked a curious Kejal.

"Really just a clarification."

"Okay, captain. Clarify."

"Navaar did not sleep with me. She slept in proximity to me. Next to me."

"Okay," said a confused Kejal.

"Also add that a few days after our arrival, there was a strong storm which hit the compound we were staying in. Half the habitat was destroyed. We had to double up in our rooms. Navaar's room had been destroyed and she chose to double with me. It was completely innocent."

"I don't know what that means," said Kejal.

"Please, just add it."

"This information was already in the file. A storm hit the compound. Navaar's room was destroyed. As a result, she went to your room and slept with you for the remaining three nights."

"Near me. Change it to near me. Not with me."

"I can't change it. But I will add that she was also near you. Which I believe would be obvious."

"No, no. Not near me in addition to with me. Take out the word with!"

"I can't take that out. But I will add that it should be near and not with."

"Okay. Thank you," said Val. Kejal saw that Val seemed relieved. She was still confused, but did not pursue it.

Kejal continued to read the file. It was basically information about Navaar and Val's interactions for the remaining three days. Val checked on the wellbeing of the colonists as Navaar delivered aid. After a few minutes, Val had fallen asleep.

* * *

"This is all just a huge misunderstanding!" screamed Deputy Undersecretary Keith Jordan.

He was caught in the crossfire as MARCOs were advancing from the south side of the building and Cardassian troops from the north side.

Val was right next to him, taking cover behind the abandoned building. They had both been running the past 7 minutes.

Keith Jordan was a deputy undersecretary in diplomatic affairs department. Val had accompanied him and nine others as part of a diplomatic and legal team to secretly negotiate a cease fire between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union. The year is 2369. This was Val's first field assignment, only a month after his promotion from lieutenant junior grade to full lieutenant. Val just realized, he was dreaming about his past. Often, when he discovered that he was in a dream, he would be able to wake himself up, or control some aspects of the dream. This time, he couldn't. He would simply watch the dream unfold.

Seven minutes ago, the negotiations looked promising. It was the second meeting between the deputy undersecretary and a legate from Cardassia's central command. Suddenly, one of the legate's aides handed him a report. The legate then accused the Federation of attempting to assassinate him. His personal bodyguards found multiple bombs planted at the meeting site.

The bodyguards drew their weapons.

"We're not a threat to you," said Jordan. "We didn't plant those bombs."

"Quiet!" said one of the bodyguards. He then shot his disruptor at one of the undersecretary's assistants. The assistant was able to dodge the shot. However, this resulted in the lead Starfleet officer to draw his phaser and fire. A firefight had ensued. One of the undersecretary's bodyguards tossed a phaser to Val. But even with Val's addition, only 5 of the Federation team were armed. The Starfleet security chief ordered everyone to fall back to the extraction point, and the Federation civilians fled while the three Starfleet officers covered the retreat.

The MARCOs met up with the undersecretary's team at the abandoned building.

"Val!" screamed his friend Aaron.

Val turned his attention to the direction of the MARCOs. Aaron threw him a couple of unused grenades and an earpiece. Val put on the earpiece.

"Aaron, we've got at least a dozen Cardies on our six."

"Val, we can't go back to the transport."

"Why?"

"It was attacked. It's now a fireball. Both pilots are dead."

"Great," said Val. That was their only way off this godforsaken rock.

"Listen. Listen! We've got alternate transport. Take your team six clicks to the east. There's a Cardassian shuttle there. Catch this!"

Aaron threw an access cardkey which Val luckily caught.

"That'll allow you to get onboard. Once on, enter the code I wrote down on the piece of paper I wrapped around on those grenades I just passed to you. It's in Cardassian but I'm sure you'll figure it out. Once you get the engines going, you can show my some of those magical flying skills I remember from back in advanced training."

"Got it!" said Val.

"You and your fleet buddies take point. The civvies follow. Me and my MARCOs will cover your butts. Run!"

The plan went off as devised. They met no resistance on the way to the shuttle, and the MARCOs successfully fended off the chasing Cardassians.

Once they got onboard, Val flew the shuttle off the moon and they successfully rendezvoused with the U.S.S. Jackson, back in Federation space.

As Val was about to leave the Jackson to return to his fun old desk job, Aaron went to see him off.

"Thanks bro. I guess I owe you my life. The whole team owes you our lives," said Val

"You do indeed," said Aaron. "Nice flying, by the way." Aaron smiled. "I'm not going to go as far as to say we're even, but I'm thinking those civilian pilots for the diplomatic service may not have dodged the anti-aircraft fire as artfully as you did."

"Yea. Thanks."

"Oh, by the way, you owe one of my sergeant's lunch, seeing as how your terrible flying caused him to lose it."

Val and Aaron laughed it up.

As they parted ways, Val said thanks again.

"No problem, man. That's what us MARCOs do, bail you fleet boys out of trouble. You're as bad as the civvies."

"I'll make a note of that."

"Oh, by the way," said Aaron, "you also have the Obsidian Order to thank."

"Why?"

"One of them apparently had a crush on you," joked Aaron.

"Funny."

"Well, for real, I was approached secretly by three of their agents once the diplomat transport exploded. One of them gave us the access key and the code. They also jammed communications frequencies so the Cardassian ships in orbit wouldn't know what was happening. They saved us all."

"Why would they do that? At the same time they were trying to kill us all?"

"Well, the one I spoke to said that it was in the Order's interests for the Federation and the Union to make peace. It was in the Union's interest. She said those that planted the bombs at the peace conference were enemies of the state. And, get this, the one that approached me, was a freakin' Bajoran. Her colleagues weren't Cardassians either."

"Bajoran, eh?"

"Yea, she was surgically altered or something."

"What was her name?"

"Can't remember? Something with a 'K'?" joked Aaron. It was a running joke the two of them had. During advanced training, Val and Aaron noticed that there were an unusually high number of girls in their units with the name Katie. And a handful of girls named Kelly. Over half of the girls had names starting with the letter K.

The two of them bumped fists as Val walked towards his shuttle. It was the final boarding call.

His dream then turned to his final minutes with his friend Navaar. Now, it was the two of them saying goodbye.

* * *

Val awoke slowly. He knew he had been dreaming, but couldn't quite remember what about. His pillow was no longer under his head. It was on his chest, and he had one arm around it. He slowly turned to his nightstand to check his timepiece.

"Ah!" he said, momentarily startled.

Kejal had been sitting on the chair at his desk, looking in his direction.

"What time is it?" asked Val.

"0628 hours."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"For at least 5 hours 40 minutes. I didn't notice the exact minute."

"And you've been sitting there this whole time?"

"Of course."

"Why didn't you deactivate?"

"You didn't order it."

"Do not discuss with the crew anything about watching me sleep, or anything we talked about yesterday night."

"Of course not. A consort would never talk about her captain."

"Right."

"The Order asset Navaar was correct. You are cute when you are asleep."

"Haha," Val said in a mocking tone. He threw his pillow at her. "Deactivate."

Kejal's program disappeared. Val set his alarm for 0730 hours and went back to bed.

* * *

It was 1000 hours. Staff Sergeant Driver arrived at engineering. Val knew that Kejal didn't have much to do, so he told her to brief Sergeants Driver, Hall, and Raines on what alien species she had come into contact with since the Vetara's arrival in the Delta Quadrant. There was at least one, the Krowtonan Guard.

The briefing only took 20 minutes.

"Sergeant Driver, may I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"The English language confuses me. What does it mean when a person sleeps with another person."

"Um…" said Driver. He didn't know if he should explain this. "Well, when one person sleeps with another person, that usually means they go to bed together and hook up." Driver knew that she probably wouldn't know what hooking up meant, but he really didn't want to have this conversation.

"I see," said Kejal. She was still puzzled.

"Would there be a difference between a female sleeping with a male, versus a female sleeping next a male, or in proximity?" Kejal emphasized the words "with" and "next."

"Oh, well, usually when a female says that she slept with a male, it would imply some sort of romantic entanglement. The distinction would be that non-romantic partners may sleep near each other, but the word with would not be used in a non-romantic setting."

"I see."

* * *

"Sergeant, please have a seat," said Val.

Staff Sergeant Driver had asked to speak with Val, and Val invited him to meet in the gul's office next to the Vetara's bridge.

The office was tiny; somewhere between one-half and one-third of the size of Janeway's office on Voyager. But it was still big enough to have a desk, the captain's chair, and two other chairs on the opposite side of the desk.

"With all due respect, sir, your personal matters are private, but are you sleeping with the Cardassian hologram?"

Val was taken aback.

"What? No," said Val emphatically.

"Okay," said Driver. He would take his captain at his word. Driver was about to get up, but Val motioned for him to stop.

"What makes you ask that question? Is that what your MARCOs are thinking?"

"No, sir. It's just that the hologram asked me a weird question this morning. Asked me what the phrase meant when a person was sleeping with someone."

"Oh. I can explain that. I had asked her about the file the Cardassians apparently have on me. The one that says I'm a Bureau agent. In the file, it mentions that I slept with an Orion named Navaar on one of my past assignments. In reality, we slept in the same room. Just a subtle difference, I guess."

"I see. Thank you for that clarification."

"While you're here, sergeant, I wanted to get your opinion on something."

"Sure, sir."

"There may be a member of Voyager's crew who has decided to defect to the Kazon, and possibly spying for the Kazon at this moment. I am wondering whether it would be better if we moved the MARCOs back onto Voyager to help defend the ship in case of an attempt to commandeer her. Any thoughts on this?"

"Well, although I would rather us MARCOs stay where we are, if there is true danger to Voyager and we can help, I think that would be something we should do. Perhaps Voyager should slow down and we can convoy together. I think that would be the best course of action. But you are in command and I defer to your judgment. If it is your call that we go back to Voyager, we will of course do that."

"But you wouldn't want that?"

"No, I would prefer not. We don't mix with the maquis. Though, in the event of a Kazon attempt at taking the ship over, I suppose we may bond in the midst of battle. Stranger things have happened."

"I see."

"May I ask a question, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"It's a member of the maquis, isn't it?"

"Well, the particular person hasn't been caught red-handed yet. Why would you say it's a maquis."

"It would make most sense. The crew of Voyager seemed the most adamant about finding a way home. Some or most of the maquis seemed a little ambivalent about it. I probably would be if I knew I was heading for the brig once the ship returned to the alpha quadrant. Many of the maquis really had nothing to go home to. Some were petty criminals. Some were just violent thugs looking to wreak havoc. I don't really know how Janeway keeps them in line."

"Chakotay's a strong first officer."

"Chakotay's a freakin' clown," said an annoyed Driver.

"That may be, but he's a clown who outranks you. If we have to return to Voyager, please at least pretend that you respect the chain of command."

"Really, it's ultimately his fault we're in this mess."

"His fault, Janeway's fault, my fault. We're all at least partially responsible. Look, it doesn't matter anymore. We need to move forward."

"So, he had a Starfleet spy planted in his ranks, and now a Kazon spy is in his ranks. Ridiculous. At this rate, Torres might turn out to be a spy for the Klingons and maybe one of his men is an informant for the Cardassian Central Command!"

Val was a little surprised Driver stumbled into that. Though, he knew Driver didn't know. He would tell Driver anyway.

"Indeed. There was a Cardassian agent in his ranks. That person is the one who handed you the codes to this ship. I guess you should be thankful in the end."

Driver's face showed a man in disbelief. He had forgotten about the codes.

"The man's a freakin' clown," he insisted again. "Both a Starfleet *and* a Cardassian spy planted into his cell. How the hell did he elude capture."

"Word has it he's a very resourceful individual. After all, he was an above average Starfleet officer before he left the fleet."

"You mean, before he turned into a traitor and joined a terrorist organization."

"Yea. That."

"What makes a man do something like that?" asked an even more annoyed Driver. "I mean, what makes a decent man turn into a traitor?"

"Hey. Every man has his own story. I'm sure in his mind, Chakotay sees himself as a victim of his circumstances. Or perhaps even some kind of noble martyr. I know when I write my memoirs, I'll be a goddamn superhero."

"With lasers shooting out of your eyeballs?" joked Driver.

"Both laser vision *and* x-ray vision. I'm a double threat. Assault capabilities along with information gathering. I haven't learned to fly yet. That's next on my list." Val was glad he could get Driver to lighten up.

"Well, you can fly a starship. That's good enough for me."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, the man's been decorated for valor multiple times."

"You mean twice."

"Hey! Two is multiple."

"I've got corporals more highly decorated."

"Well… that just means MARCOs get medals handed to them and Starfleet officers actually earn them," joked Val

"Well, we know that can't possibly be the case, since you have one," retorted Driver.

"Nice."

"With respect, sir, I was wondering what you got your medal for. I know it was in the same action as one of Major Douglas' medals."

"Sorry, sergeant, it's heavily classified."

"I know. Can't even give me a hint, eh?"

"Nope. It's very weird they even make the medal known in my record. I was just at the wrong place in the wrong time, I guess."

"But… you were the right person at that wrong place. And you performed. I believe a British admiral once said that heroes are just ordinary people who rise up in extraordinary situations."

"Right. Or maybe I just got lucky."

"Hey, you saved many lives. Or so I hear. I wonder who you saved."

"Classified, sergeant."

"Exactly what a member of the Bureau would say," joked Driver.

"If you must know, I was on duty as a lawyer," said Val. "Unfortunately, we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be. On the wrong side of the line drawn on a map by the politicians. I helped get us out of a dicey situation. The end."

"Nice. Hopefully, no dicey situations for us!"

Just then the ship shook.

"What the hell was that?" asked Val.

Both Val and Driver stepped out onto the bridge.

"Report!" said Val.

"I… I don't know," said Sergeant Hall.

The ship shook again. This time, multiple alarms started sounding. Val contacted engineering. "Kejal, report!"

"We're being attacked!" came a frantic voice.

Val went over to the navigator's station. Multiple dots were moving toward the ship. The Vetara had automatically raised shields. Weapons were brought on line.


	4. Chapter 4 In Bed With

Finally started writing this chapter, March 5, 2011.

Title: In Bed With

Val was frantically toggling through the displays and looking down at his padd from time to time for translations of the Cardassian symbols on the screens.

What he was reading didn't make any sense. Not because it was in a foreign language; but because nothing seemed to be hitting the _Vetara_. He flipped the screen back to a shipwide damage control schematic. No damage. Shields were holding at 100%.

The ship rattled one more time before Val started to figure it out. One by one, the multiple dots entered into short range sensors but disappeared as they got closer to the _Vetara_. Val brought up the visual sensors and magnified the image. It was fuzzy, but he could see that there were two groups of small spacecraft battling nearby and as one was destroyed, the explosion sent out a shockwave which shook the _Vetara_.

Val wasn't entirely sure what to do. As he watched for a few more minutes, he could tell that one side had superior spacecraft, and the others were barely putting up a fight. In fact, the inferior ships seemed more intent on fleeing the scene.

Soon, he decided to pull the _Vetara_ into the mix to protect the inferior craft. He could be making a mistake. The inferior craft could be full of criminals trying to make an escape. But he wanted to halt the bloodshed. If necessary, he would have the Vetara itself chase down the criminals, as it seemed his ship was capable of speeds well outpacing either of the two groups.

As the _Vetara_ started to maneuver, Val figured out yet another trend. The fleeing spacecraft seemed to have been heading straight for the Vetara. He couldn't tell exactly what that meant, but he thought one possibility was that the fleeing craft were seeking protection from the significantly larger Cardassian warship.

As the distance between the _Vetara_ and the smaller spacecraft diminished, Val received a message, audio only.

"Alien ship, this is an internal matter. Please exclude yourself from the situation."

"May I ask what this is about?" inquired Val.

"No."

The comm channel closed. Val brought his ship to an all stop. The visual sensors were able to capture more crisp images of the spacecraft. Val loaded them onto his padd and started a comparison search. The results came back in 5 seconds, and hits came from Neelix's Talaxian database which he shared with _Voyager_. Both sets of spacecraft were of Krowtonan design. One set were medium corvettes of the high guard. The fleeing set were lightly armed scout fighters.

Val remembered some minor tidbits about the Krowtonan High Guard during Neelix's briefing when _Voyager_ first encountered the _Vetara_. They were a significant military force spread out through many nearby sectors of space. Val did not wish to make a omnipresent enemy. He decided to stay out of the situation. However, he was slightly saddened as he watched a half dozen scout fighters destroyed at the hands of the slightly larger ships.

Within 15 minutes, three larger ships dropped out of warp. Val identified them as Krowtonan frigates, about one-fourth the size of the _Vetara_.

They hailed the _Vetara_.

"Cardassian ship, prepare to be boarded." The channel closed.

"What?" thought Val to himself. He opened a channel to the nearest frigate.

"Alien vessels. I do not understand, we stayed out of your fight."

No response came. Two frigates closed in on the _Vetara_, one each on the starboard and port sides. The rest of the Krowtonan ships formed a circle around the _Vetara_ and charged their weapons.

Val wanted to put up a fight, but he did some quick math and ran some battle scenarios in his head. So far, all scenarios wound up in the _Vetara_ succumbing in a likely explosion.

Another message came from the alien commander.

"Cardassian vessel, I repeat: lower your shields and release your docking airlocks. Prepare to be boarded."

Val just realized that the aliens did not have beaming technology. They were going to physically board the ship through the airlocks. This gave him a potential leveling of the playing field. The airlocks were extremely narrow. Only one or at best two people could come through at a time. They were natural choke points.

Val gave a quick glance at Staff Sergeant Nathan Driver.

"On it," said the staff sergeant.

Driver tapped his earpiece.

"Matt, you and 2nd squad take the port side."

Sergeant Matthew Raines acknowledged the order as Driver and Sergeant Hall sprinted out of the room, heading for the starboard airlock. Val was all alone on the bridge now. He opened a channel.

"Alien vessels, we will comply with your request."

He lowered the ship's shields, at a painstakingly slow pace. At about 5% every second, it would take 20 seconds for the shields to come down. Then, probably another 20 seconds for the alien ships to maneuver and pull alongside the _Vetara_ and maybe 5 more to create an airtight seal. That was plenty of time for the MARCO squads to take up defensive positions.

Val monitored the situation as the alien ships pulled near. The Cardassian sensors were able to read the life signs aboard the alien frigates. Val could see a cluster of about 15 soldiers in each of the ships' airlocks. This might actually be a fair fight after all. Although, he saw that each ship probably had at least dozens more personnel.

His mind raced while trying to evaluate the situation. What was happening here? Why are the aliens doing this? The short answer, of course, was because they could.

After a second, he realized that if the aliens had wanted to destroy his ship, they could have. There was something on the ship that the aliens _wanted_. The only answer he could come up with was the beaming technology.

Then, another thought occurred to him. If his MARCO troopers were to be overwhelmed, he could just beam the alien soldiers away. Possibly out into space, thus neutralizing them.

He tapped his own earpiece.

"Kejal, what is the capacity of the _Vetara_'s transporters. How many people can I beam simultaneously?"

"The _Vetara_ has two transporters, each capable of beaming four persons simultaneously."

Val's fingers quickly flew across the computer screen.

* * *

"Back away!" screamed Driver.

He wasn't yelling at the intruders. He was yelling orders to his own men. The alien boarding party wasn't going to be as stupid as to walk through a narrow corridor into hostile territory. They threw multiple grenades through the airlock prior to advancing onto the Vetara.

Driver tapped his earpiece.

"Sir! We've got a huge freakin' problem!" he screamed.

"I see that," said Val as calmly as he could. He was watching his screen as a dozen alien soldiers poured onto his ship through each of the docking ports.

"Pull your men behind the emergency thresholds, I'll seal the hallways," said Val.

This wasn't going to be a long-term solution. Sooner or later, the weapons fire from the alien soldiers would take down the forcefields. They had been designed to contain an airleak, not explosive fire. Val started to beam the alien soldiers into space, as his original back-up plan called for.

That wasn't working as well either. Multiple reinforcements poured in from the alien ships. Faster than he could beam them off. The forcefields were now half depleted. Val decided on a hail mary.

"Driver, I'm sending you onto the alien ships."

"What!"

"I am beaming you and seven of your men onto the ship to our starboard. Straight onto their bridge. You get me control of that bridge!"

The staff sergeant cursed under his breath. Though, a part of him lived for this.

"Before I send you, I'll beam over some cover. I'll gas 'em and beam you over in a 5 second delay."

The alien ship to the port side got lucky. Val's first impulse was to beam a torpedo right onto their bridge. However, he decided against that, seeing as how a ship implosion so close to his own ship might do some serious damage.

"Here we go!" said Val.

* * *

The alien soldiers had broken through the forcefields. Val now had a hard decision to make. His MARCO troopers were falling back. A couple were wounded. Two seconds ago, he just beamed Driver and his team onto the alien ship's bridge. Should he reinforce Driver, and weaken his defenses? Driver was going to have his hands full. Val decided the quickest way to resolve this was to send reinforcements. He beamed another 8 troopers to aid Driver.

Immediately, Val opened a channel to the alien vessels.

"I now have control over one your ships and will soon acquire control of the second. Charge down your weapons and recall your boarding teams."

Val wasn't sure how well his bluff would work. Driver did not yet confirm he attained control. He had beamed a few gas canisters and also a few grenades onto the port side ship in order to cause some confusion. But he wasn't going to send any troopers there. His men were stretched too thin.

To his surprise, the alien ships did in fact charge down their weapons. The boarding parties were not recalled, but they stopped firing and held position.

"I've got injured," shouted Sergeant Raines over his mic.

"Who's the medic in your platoon?" asked Val. He hoped he didn't just beam the medic over to the other ship.

"We deployed without one," said Raines slightly frantic. "When we downsized from 3 squads to 2, we lost him. We were told to rely on Voyager's medical personnel if needed."

"Great," Val thought to himself.

"Take them to sickbay. I'll meet you there," said Val.

Val took two semesters of medical science. One involved microscopes. That wasn't going to help him here. He hadn't lost a man under his command before. This was turning out to be one hell of a day.

"Captain!" came two voices simultaneously over his earpiece. They were Kejal and Driver. He guessed Kejal was coming in with a damage report of the ship and Driver was going to give him good news from the alien ship's bridge.

"Driver first, then Kejal," said Val.

"There's something you need to see, sir," said Driver.

"Can it wait?"

"You should beam yourself over here as soon as possible."

"Kejal?"

"I wish to meet with your men at sickbay, I can help."

"Do it," said Val. He wanted to inquire as to how Kejal could help, but Driver sounded like he had an emergency.

"Raines, meet with Kejal. I'll be off-ship with your platoon sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

Val walked back a few feet to where he had been sitting before. He beamed himself over to the alien ship's bridge.

* * *

"Place him over here," said Kejal.

Two injured MARCO troopers entered sickbay helped by their colleagues. They were both shot in the torso. One in her abdomen, the other in his chest. The alien soldiers had good aim, it seems. Though, not good enough to have been aiming for head shots.

Kejal's hands flew over one of the nearby computer consoles.

Another Cardassian hologram materialized.

"Zet, these are Captain Shin's men. They have been gravely injured."

"What happened?" asked Zet in a calm voice. It was an interesting switch from the medical hologram on Voyager, who often began speaking in a more frustrated voice.

"We were boarded," responded Corporal Samantha Logan.

Zet seemed to be a capable medic.

* * *

"Attention on deck!" Val heard as he materialized onto the alien ship's bridge.

However, the person who said it was not Sergeant Driver, or any of his marines.

The alien officers stood up straight. They all seemed to be of the same race. Skin was slightly tan. Their knees bent backwards instead of forwards like the humans. Though, their feet faced forwards. They were slightly taller than the average human.

Val understood why Driver had asked him to beam over. The alien who stood in front of what seemed to be the captain's chair wore a unique badge on his chest, in the middle above the sternum. It was a Starfleet combadge.

* * *

"There, good as new," said Zet.

Both of the injured MARCOs had been treated and were up and about.

"Thank you, Doctor," said Sergeant Raines.

"Not a problem," he said with a smile.

"My men and I have to return to our post," he told Kejal. "Thank you both."

Kejal nodded and the MARCOs left sickbay. Raines wanted to keep a close eye on his alien guests.

* * *

The alien with the combadge approached Val.

"Sir. I am Pow Beeshar. I command this vessel."

The alien extended his hand in a gesture as if he wished to shake hands. Val extended his hand in return. They didn't quite shake hands. The alien's hand grabbed Val's wrist, and Val did the same. He figured it was the Krowtonan handshake. Val would later learn that Pow was the Krowtonan rank that was roughly equivalent to Starfleet lieutenant.

"Please forgive my actions," said Beeshar. "We were not aware that there were additional Starfleet ships in this area of space."

"May I ask which ship you are allied with?" asked Val. He was certain it was not Voyager.

"The Krowtonan High Guard has absorbed the _U.S.S. Solstice_ into our fleet. She is the flagship for this sector. We've just sent a communication and she should be arriving shortly."

A human walked onto the bridge. She wore the uniform of an operations division officer. She was in either security or engineering.

"Captain, allow me to introduce to you Ensign Marlena Gilmore, on loan from the _Solstice_," said Beeshar as she walked toward the two.

"Sir," she said. The two did not shake hands, she stood at attention.

"You can stand at ease, ensign," said Val.

The two of them talked for a little while. The _Solstice_ was a Nova-class exploration ship that got pulled into the delta quadrant by the same entity that brought Voyager there. The incident occurred less than a year before _Voyager_'s arrival. Almost immediately, the _Solstice_ got caught in the brewing war between the Kazon and the Krowtonan.

Beeshar interrupted the conversation.

"Captain Shin, I have a matter of urgency."

"Yes?"

"If I may, might I request you beam back my soldiers onto my ships?"

Val had forgotten about that whole incident. He had beamed off over a dozen of the boarding soldiers into the space.

"I regret having done that," said Val. "I would not have killed them if I had known."

The alien officer attempted to brush away Val's worries.

"Please, captain, do not be troubled. My boarding parties all wear life sustaining environmental equipment in the event the commander of the ships they board decide to vent the atmosphere in the compartments. My men are alive and well. They are simply floating about in space. It would be good to have them back."

Val nodded. He had Kejal lock onto the alien signals and beam them back onto Beeshar's ship.

* * *

"I see," said Val.

He just sat through an hourlong briefing of background information about the Krowtonan High Guard. Up until two years ago, the Krowtonan were the dominant entity of this part of the delta quadrant. Then, suddenly, some of the outlying colonies started to rebel against the Emperor and things quickly disintegrated within a span of weeks. The contagion spread like wildfire. The various rebellions were crushed, with some arguably heavy-handed tactics. But the rebellions proved to be the distraction that Krowtonan enemies were waiting for. The Kazon and the Vidiians launched simultaneous attacks on multiple fronts against the once unassailable Krowtonan. Since then, there have been advances back and forth. The Vidiians were largely taken out of the picture when a Krowtonan scientist devised a biological agent which brought the Vidiians to the edge of extinction. Less than 10% of their population was immune to the effects. They are now concentrated on rebuilding and have a tentative non-aggression pact with the Krowtonan. The Kazon stand alone as the major enemy, although there are a few much smaller nations which have also joined the fray. At the same time, various rebellions flared up from time to time, and a few flotillas of the Krowtonan Guard have even defected. The regional dukes were attempting to give concessions to their populaces, but some have turned down negotiations for full-blown revolution. Many Krowtonan sectors outside of Krowtona Prime are now at risk of downfall.

A few days after the _Solstice_ started her trip home, she was suffered a heavy assault by ships of a mid-rate Kazon sect. The ship escaped its first encounter with the Kazon, but almost perished in the next. A mere seconds from total destruction, she was saved by a squadron of Krowtonan cruisers. That was the beginning of the budding alliance.

* * *

The _U.S.S. Solstice_ arrived two days later. Pow Beehsar and his ship had stayed behind while the others returned to their patrols.

Val was invited onto the _Solstice_. He brought Sergeant Driver with him. Beeshar escorted them to the _Solstice_'s mess hall.

"Captain, this is the Forward Forces Commander for this theatre of operations," said Beeshar as he introduced a young human officer.

"Max Burke," he said, extending his hand.

"Val Shin." The two of them shook hands.

Burke was slightly taller than Val, and slightly older. Burke was probably in his mid to late 30s. He wore a Starfleet uniform within the red division, same as Val. His rank insignia had changed, Val didn't know what it symbolized.

"I've been reading Beeshar's report on you," said Burke. "Interesting situation we find ourselves in."

The two officers sat down and talked for a while. The Krowtonan Guard did not have any ships of comparable size to the _Vetara_. They had records of having encountered this ship once, but it was deserted and the Guard was unsuccessful in reactivating it. Beeshar's flotilla captain had believed upon stumbling onto the Vetara that a band of salvage operators had somehow managed to bring it back on line. The Krowtonan Empire was in a state of emergency, and martial law allowed the High Guard to confiscate any spacefaring vessel as long as the owners were fairly compensated. Beeshar had orders to confiscate the Vetara.

"We could use an additional ship," said Burke. "Consider joining us."

Val promised that he would take the offer under advisement.

"How many humans are left onboard?" asked Val. The crew of the _Solstice_ had been augmented with many Krowtonan crewmembers. And some of the original _Solstice_ crew were loaned out to nearby ships. The Chief of Fleet Operations had thought it would help to mix up the crews so they cold learn from each other.

"We have 39 here. 35 have been assigned to other ships or installations. There's actually a planet several sectors from here that has a human colony on it. Not entirely sure how that happened. Apparently, they were taken from Earth in the 1930s and have developed a civilization here in the Delta Quadrant. They number about a hundred thousand. Capital city is called Evansville. I believe their leader is named John Evans. His ancestors founded the colony.

The _Solstice_ only discovered them very recently, but we have been in contact. They aren't a spacefaring race, but they are considering allying themselves with the Krowtonan. A good number of their youth are interested in serving in the Krowtonan High Guard."

Another Starfleet officer walked into the mess hall. He wore a uniform in the operations division.

"Admiral Burke," he said. "Here are reports from some of the Home Guard units. Their commander is holding off requesting reinforcement from High Guard ships, but the situation is fluid."

"Thank you," said Burke and his officer handed him a padd.

"Captain Shin," said Beeshar. "This is Captain Thomas Riker. He commands this ship."

"Good to meet you," said Val.

"Same here."

Thomas Riker was originally the second-in-command onboard the _Solstice_. He had been seriously injured during the voyage to the delta quadrant. A few days later, Captain Rudolph Ransom would likewise be incapacitated, by a Kazon assault. This left Max Burke as the most senior officer, and he did an admirable job keeping _Solstice_ flying.

When the _Solstice_ entered into their alliance with the Krowtonan, the then Area Commander took a liking to Burke and made him his chief of staff. Ransom resumed his captaincy until the _Solstice_ discovered Evansville. The Krowtonan Emperor decided to make Rudy his liaison with the human colony, and Riker was promoted to captain. Burke was eventually promoted to the Krowtonan equivalent of Vice Admiral and given command over a High Guard fleet. He made the _Solstice_ his flagship.

The Emperor allowed _Solstice_'s beaming technology and replicator technology to be copied only to a handful of his other flagships, whose commanders he trusted were completely loyal to him.

"By any chance, have you detected _Voyager_? She would make a strong addition to the fleet," said Val.

"Actually, we're avoiding her," said Burke. "I've given standing orders for all elements under my command to steer clear and leave her on her way."

"Why?" asked Val. He was very curious about this.

"_Voyager_'s captain, Jenkins, is it?"

"Janeway."

"Right. Captain Janeway has forged various alliances with entities the Krowtonan at currently at war with."

"Really?" asked Val in surprise.

"Yes. The Krowtonan are currently at war with the Haakonian. They are a conglomerate of races, which includes the Talaxians. I believe Janeway allied herself strongly with the Talaxians to defend herself against the Kazon."

"I see…" said Val. Although, in his previous understanding, the Haakonian had conquered Talax, and spread the Talaxian people all across the quadrant. In addition, the distinct Talaxian sects did not always get along with each other. Either way, Val wasn't going to push the issue.

Vice Admiral Maximus Orwell Burke did not explain the whole truth to Val. The Krowtonan Guard was split into two main forces, the Home Guard and the High Guard. One was responsible for maintaining order internally within the Krowtonan kingdoms. The other was responsible for defense against outside forces. Although Burke commanded a High Guard fleet, his ships were often called upon to aid Home Guard units in suppressing various rebellions. This sometimes required very brutal actions, which Burke knew Janeway would not approve of. In fact, Burke wasn't sure how he would keep that information away from Shin. But Burke did not feel as threatened by the young captain. Vetara was nowhere near as advanced a ship and her offensive capabilities were somewhat limited when compared to Voyager. In addition, Shin basically had no crew, and he would not be a threat to Burke even if Shin strongly opposed Burke's actions.

* * *

The next day, Val invited Burke to tour the _Vetara_. Burke took up the offer and found the tour relaxing. Burke was now slightly more interested in taking the ship. He would rather Shin join the Krowtonan voluntarily though.

Riker contacted Burke in the midst of the tour.

"Admiral, the _Fearless_ has dropped out of warp."

"Acknowledged," said Burke.

"His Grace requests permission to board the _Vetara_," added Riker.

Burke looked at Val. "Do I have permission, captain?" he asked.

"Sure," said Val.

Val and Max entertained Krowtona's First Fleet Lord in the _Vetara_'s mess hall. The nobleman was the third in command of the entire High Guard, after the Emperor himself, and the emperor's son, the Crown Prince.

The three of them got along well. The nobleman was very polite. Very proper. Val would not have guessed he was in charge of combat operations.

The conversation soon turned into business. The lord expressed his annoyance to Burke that the Home Minister was still too frequently resorting to requesting high guard units to perform home guard activities. As a result, his ships were being split in multiple directions. Communications were starting to become a headache because the ships were required to stay in contact with their flagship at all times, but with more far flung missions separating them all, the communications signals were degrading too rapidly.

Burke said he would get some of his engineers to take a look at the problem. The nobleman expressed his frustration that many of his engineers had already looked at ways to boost the signal strength, but could come to no solution.

"You could probably try relay shuttles," suggested Val.

"Pardon?" said the nobleman.

"Relay shuttles."

"You mean, have shuttles fly messages back and forth between ships?" asked the amused nobleman.

"Not quite," said Val. "You could use the shuttles as relay stations."

"We use this concept in Starfleet," said Burke. "We have relay stations placed in locations the Federation has deemed as 'crossroads' where ships would have to pass prior to proceeding to their destinations. Since our starbases were often too far from where the starships were heading, communications signals between the two could risk getting lost. So the signals are sent to a way station and then boosted and re-sent. On various exploratory missions, when two ships had to separate far distances, one would leave a shuttle behind and it would function as a temporary relay station."

"Interesting," said the nobleman.

"Since creating the relay stations might take time, you could probably leave a shuttlepod at a convenient middle point. It would be a stopgap before you finish constructing a relay station," said Val

"A station would be a big undertaking. I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble. But this shuttle idea merits consideration." The nobleman was pleased.

"We probably also would no longer need it once that Home Guard gets its act together and no longer requires our assistance," said Burke. "Let's not waste resources building a relay post."

"Suit yourself."

"I have a spare ship in mind you can use," said Burke. "A Starfleet runabout, the _U.S.S. Hudson_."

"A runabout got brought here?" asked Val.

"Yea. Crew escaped our fate though," said Burke. "The runabout left DS9 and flew into turbulence. Before the _Hudson_ was taken to the delta quadrant, her shields failed and the hull started to fail. The two man crew beamed down to a nearby planet."

"So we have this shuttle positioned in a central location relative to the ship assignments, and it'll help extend the communications ranges of the warships," said the nobleman.

"Right."

The nobleman nodded his assent, and was quite pleased that a possible solution appeared.

"I'm tempted make you a Rear Admiral like I did for Maximus over here a while back," said the nobleman to Val.

"Thank you, sir. But, I'm fine where I am right now."

* * *

Another aspect of the _Vetara_ that Burke found intriguing was Val's crew. He didn't have one. Though, Val seemed to command the loyalty of the two Cardassian holograms onboard. Even more interesting, Val held the loyalty of the two dozen or so marines onboard. Burke never had trouble with the MARCOs, but he knew they tended not to mix well with Starfleet.

After the First Fleet Lord departed, Val continued the ship tour for Burke.

They walked into Cargo Bay 2, which the MARCOs had turned into a firing range.

"Sirs," said Staff Sergeant Driver.

In addition to the usual complement of phaser rifles, Burke was surprised to see a silvery firearm. There were also about a dozen or so black pistols.

"How many MARCOs are onboard?" asked Burke.

"Twenty-seven, including myself," answered Driver.

"May I?" asked Burke, indicating he wanted to hold the firearm.

"Be my guest. Weapon is hot." Burke had never held a projectile firearm before. He had only seen them in history texts, and maybe once in a museum. When the pistol is loaded and ready to fire, it is considered "hot."

"Do all your men carry these?" asked Burke.

"No," said Driver. "The non-coms do." This referred to non-commissioned officers. In the MARCO Corps, non-coms were corporals and sergeants. Commissioned officers were Cornets, Majors, Colonels, and Generals.

"Captain Shin has one as well," commented one of the corporals.

"Do you?" asked Burke.

"A small one. Holds five projectiles. Driver talked me into replicating one for myself."

"Why? What use is this primitive weapon?" Burke asked. "No offense, staff sergeant."

"No offense. These are secondary weapons, for when phasers aren't appropriate."

"For example?"

"You'd be surprised how many planets have electromagnetic quirks which mess with phasers," said Driver. "The back-up sidearm is effective in all environments."

Burke was fascinated. MARCO troops could also be useful to the Krowtonan. Likely, their knowledge and tactics could. At the very least, Burke would keep in mind the concept of projectile weapons if ever encountered with a situation where phasers malfunctioned.

* * *

"Are you sure?" asked the young crewman.

"Yes!" said the frustrated emergency medical hologram. In the 5 months that _Voyager_ had been lost in space, Crewman First Class William Telfer visited sickbay at least once a week. He was a classic hypochondriac.

The Doctor was relieved when he was interrupted by a message from Captain Janeway.

"Doctor, please prepare to receive two injured alien life forms."

A few seconds later, two life forms were beamed onto the center biobed. For safety, the Doctor had activated a forcefield over the bed. The two aliens looked similar to giant insects, or perhaps crustaceans. They did not have exoskeletons, though. They had five limbs, one which may have been a tail. The two front limbs each had four finger-like digits. The two non-humanoid aliens were classified as cytoplasmic lifeforms. They are roughly the size of a housecat, perhaps slightly larger.

Captain Janeway walked in a minute later.

"My medical tricorder is basically useless for these particular aliens," reported the Doctor. "I can't really make sense of the scans of the aliens' internal organs and I couldn't guess what is happening. I am fairly certain that the aliens are injured, but I do not know how to go about treating them."

Ensign Harry Kim entered sickbay.

"I've examined the command controls onboard the alien ship," Kim reported to the captain. "It appears the controls take commands through biochemical secretions emanating from the aliens."

Both Kim and Telfer approach the forcefield to get a better look. Telfer's field of expertise is biology, and he thought he could help.

Suddenly, the crew hears screeching. Both aliens somehow leap off the biobed and fly right through the forcefield. They attach themselves to Kim and Telfer. Ensign Kim struggles strenuously for about 5 seconds before he is subdued. The two aliens have pierced the necks of the two humans with a proboscis. A couple of security officers draw their phasers and Janeway nods for them to fire. But the Doctor screams "no!" and explains that the shots might harm the humans but not damage the alien. After all, the aliens were able to jump right through the forcefield. Janeway contacts Lieutenant Torres and orders her to beam the alien creatures back to their ship. However, Torres says that she can no longer get a transporter lock on the aliens.

"The aliens now seem to be interacting with Kim and Telfer's heart and lungs," said the Doctor. "Any attempt to forcefully remove the aliens might result in irreparable damage to the human organs. In order to proceed, I should spend some time studying Voyager's database on exobiology and run some alternate scenarios."

Janeway suggests that the Doctor not only consult the exobiology database, but perhaps create an addition hologram to assist in the medical treatment.

"Ironically, Ensign Kim would have been the best officer for that task," said the Doctor.

"Well, we'll have to improvise," said Janeway with an upbeat attitude. "Have Lieutenants Paris and Torres report to you and see what you guys can come up with."

* * *

"Let's say hello," said Val.

The _Vetara_ had been trailing behind _Voyager_ for over 2 months now. _Voyager_ had made a few stops along the way recently, and the _Vetara_ finally had a chance to catch up.

Val dropped his ship out of warp and cruised at half impulse toward _Voyager_.

Vice Captain Chakotay was on the bridge and received the hail.

"Counselor," said Chakotay. "Welcome back to the fold. Hope your journey has been uneventful."

_Voyager_ had encountered minor threats in the past months, but nothing she couldn't deal with.

"Almost to the point of boredom," Val responded. With a Krowtonan escort the majority of the time, the _Vetara_ made it through without being touched. Only about one and a half weeks ago did the _Vetara_ leave what was Burke's official operational area. However, Val did enjoy Burke's company from time to time. And he enjoyed meeting some of the other minor races which allied themselves with the Krowtonan.

"How is everything on _Voyager_?" asked Val.

Chakotay explained the recent incident to Val. Kim was incapacitated. Paris and Torres were busy at sickbay helping the Doctor. Captain Janeway had the shift off and was resting in her quarters.

Val said he wished to visit Kim in sickbay and offer his emotional support. He knew Paris was very close friends with Kim and he wanted to help in any way possible.

"Permission to beam aboard Voyager," requested Val.

"Granted," said Chakotay. "You'll arrive in transporter room 2."

* * *

"No!" insisted Torres.

"You're kidding me," replied Paris in disbelief.

"This is the appropriate course of action," insisted the Doctor.

"Pick someone else," said Torres.

"He's the most highly qualified expert exobiologist," said the Doctor.

"Then pick the second most. Surely there's more than just one person who has the required qualifications," replied Torres. The individual the Doctor had chosen was a Cardassian surgeon and exobiologist. Being a member of the maquis, Torres had an intense hatred of all Cardassians.

Val walked onto the holodeck. He could tell the others were in the midst of a heated debate, but he didn't know the topic.

"I won't do it," said Torres. "Pick another person."

Val walked over to Paris.

"Hey Tom, I heard the news. Sorry about the predicament. Any progress on running scenarios?"

Paris shook his head.

"Lieutenant. Doctor," said Val, acknowledging the other two officers. Torres nodded her head.

The Doctor wanted to insist. He brought up three personnel files side by side, hoping to convince Torres of the superior qualifications of the Cardassian over the next two closely qualified medical experts.

Val watched the Doctor toggle through the images of the medics on the padd.

"Hey, he looks familiar," said Val casually. Then again, many Cardassians looked alike to him. He gave the image a second look.

"Looks like Zet," he said as an offhand comment.

"Who?" asked Paris.

"Zet. He's one of the holo-programs on my ship. He's some type of scientist. Programmed to catalogue new species in the Gamma Quadrant. He's a good guy."

"Do you mean Crell Moset?" asked the Doctor. "The most renowned and knowledgeable exobiologist in all the alpha quadrant?" The Doctor said that last part with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Uh… I guess," said Val, not entirely sure what the Doctor was all riled up about.

"Do you think you can have his program report to sickbay and assist me?" asked the Doctor.

"Sure. I don't see why not," said Val.

The Doctor actually smiled and seemed satisfied.

"Thank you, Counselor Shin."

Torres was fuming.

"What's wrong with picking this person?" she pointed to an image of a Romulan.

"Come on, Torres," said Paris. "This is Harry's life we're talking about. We should have the best possible person on this."

Torres stormed toward the holodeck's exit.

"Fine, you guys deal with it. I'll be in engineering. Don't contact me!"

"As if we need her anymore," the Doctor retorted, with a hint of annoyance.

* * *

"Thank you for coming," said the Doctor.

"Sure," said Zet. "Captain Shin told me he wouldn't order me to help, but why would I not?"

The two doctors started off in a very friendly and cordial exchange, and the Doctor quickly warmed to the Cardassian as they begin discussing Ensign Kim's predicament. They began brainstorming possible courses of action.

In sickbay, Paris is watching over Kim. Kim rouses into consciousness and thinks he is about to die. Paris tells him to relax, and says that he'll be up and about in no time.

In the bed next to Kim is Crewman Telfer. His friend, Crewman Tal Celes is there with him. Although Telfer remains unconscious, Celes holds onto his hand and squeezes. Telfer had been instrumental in helping Celes cope with her duties onboard _Voyager_. During boot camp, she often had to work twice as hard as all the other recruits. She wasn't unintelligent, but she simply wasn't up to the task as a sensor analyst. Telfer had a knack for helping her with her equations, and explaining things to her in a somewhat more simplified way. Even more importantly, Telfer was her close friend. He seemed to be the only person on the entire crew who didn't view her as intellectually inferior. Or, more precisely, he seemed to be the only person who didn't care.

"We're all a member of the team," he would say. "It doesn't matter if you're not as strong or as smart as everyone else. Nobody survives alone, and no matter what, you are an integral part of the team."

It was a little bit ironic, as the two of them seemed to be the extent of their team. The other members of the crew, while friendly, tended to treat them as misfits.

Although the two of them were close friends, they were not romantically involved. In fact, Telfer often couldn't stop talking about a girl he had been infatuated with back on Earth. Christina something. He was always too shy and never made an attempt to express his feelings to her. But now, after being stranded in the delta quadrant, he made a promise to himself that as soon as he returned home, he would say something. He sometimes asked Tal how he should approach the situation. To some extent, Tal was happy she was able to help him with something. There wasn't going to be anything in the science arena that she could help him with. Tal hoped that Telfer would survive to return home.

As Zet examines the creature which attached itself to Ensign Kim, he mentions that he would probably be better able to create possible scenarios back at his laboratory on the Vetara. The Doctor agrees. The two of them transfer their programs to the Vetara and create a holo-simulation of the alien on one of Zet's examination tables. As they work, they are both surprised when they hum a song together.

* * *

Val Shin and Tom Paris shared a meal in the mess hall. It was a welcome distraction to take Tom's mind off of his friend's predicament.

After the meal, Paris reported to the bridge for his shift.

Before Val returned to his ship, he thought he'd drop by DuPont's quarters just to say hello. She was surprised. She hadn't known that the _Vetara_ met up with Voyager. She was due for her shift at hydroponics, but she decided to fake being sick and called her supervisor on an internal channel. Val thought it was funny that DuPont changed her voice to pretend she was under the weather. Her supervisor said it would be okay and wished her a speedy recovery. After the channel was closed, DuPont smiled a childish smile.

Although many of the Starfleet personnel still had strong reservations about their maquis crewmates, the two groups tried to get along. Eventually, things would be okay. DuPont was popular with maquis crewmembers, but even they didn't completely accept her as one of their own. After all, she wasn't really much of a warrior. She had simply been on Chakotay's ship as a passenger for her travels within the DMZ. Chakotay had been doing a favor for one of his friends in another maquis cell.

DuPont looked forward to spending a day of hookie with an old acquaintance. The two of them talked for close to an hour.

"I should really be getting back to my ship," said Val.

DuPont was a little sad. She had taken her whole day off! Val sensed her emotion.

"Would you like a tour?"

DuPont's face lit up. In general, she wasn't really allowed to leave _Voyager_. She had no skills necessary on away teams; at least thus far. If a _Voyager_ away team needed legal assistance of some sort, she'd be the perfect candidate. It was ironic that the last thing Val said to her before they last separated was advising her not to take part in away teams.

Of course, word might eventually pass from the transporter chief to DuPont's supervisor that she beamed off the ship while "sick." She would worry about that some other time.

The two of them walked around his ship for a few hours. The MARCOs basically all knew her. Some disliked her immensely, others were closer to indifferent. But they knew she was the captain's personal guest, and they restrained their animosity towards her. After beaming over, she had taken off her maquis rank insignia from her collar in an attempt to lessen the friction, but they knew who she was.

Val was hesitant to take her to engineering. He wasn't sure how DuPont would react to Kejal. But it was a major part of the ship. And Kejal was an important member of his crew.

As the two of them entered engineering, Val was surprised how friendly DuPont was toward the Cardassian.

"Hi!" she said in a friendly tone. "Karen DuPont," she said as she introduced herself.

Kejal spoke shyly. "Kejal. I am this ship's caretaker. I am a repair technician."

"Nice to meet you, repair technician Kejal," DuPont said with a smile. She was glad that at least one member of Val's crew did not dislike her.

Kejal smiled back. Something about DuPont intrigued her.

Val wasn't sure if he was more relieved by the fact that Kejal and DuPont got along or that Kejal didn't introduce herself as the captain's consort.

The three of them hung out in engineering for a few minutes while a couple of MARCO troopers stood guard.

Their next stop was Zet's lab. Usually, Zet was inactive, but Val knew he and the Doctor were working there right now and wanted to see if they were making progress.

As the two of them walked into the lab, they watched the two doctors conferring excitedly.

"My captain," said Zet when he noticed the new arrivals. Zet seemed to always address Val as "my captain" instead of just "captain." It was an interesting quirk.

"How's it going?" asked Val.

"We are making fantastic progress," said Zet.

DuPont saw that the two doctors had performed surgery and opened up the alien to expose its internal organs. She turned away. It was not a pleasant sight to behold.

"I think we're near a solution," added the Doctor.

"Wonderful," said Val with a smile. He was hopeful that Harry Kim and William Telfer would make full recoveries.

* * *

The young ensign shrieked in horror. He had twisted his wrist and reported to sickbay for treatment. Once there, he caught a glimpse of Zet and screamed that he was a mass murderer who killed scores of Bajorans. The young ensign lunges at Zet and has to be held back by Paris and a security officer.

The Doctor is taken aback.

The young ensign, a maquis officer named Tabor, screams that Crell Moset killed his grandfather, and many other Bajorans at his hospital on Bajor. Paris suggests that Zet return to the _Vetara_ until the situation simmers down, and Zet agrees.

Chakotay soon arrives at sickbay and asks for an explanation. The maquis ensign explains that the Doctor's colleague is Crell Moset, and goes on to list several alleged atrocities the Cardassian performed in the name of medical science while stationed on Bajor. The Doctor counters that Crell Moset actually found a cure for a virus which would have kill hundreds of thousands of Bajorans. The maquis ensign explains that Moset only found the cure after having experimented on hundreds of Bajorans by deliberately infecting them with the virus and then using trial and error to figure out a solution.

After leaving sickbay, Chakotay and Tuvok look through the ship's database for information regarding Crell Moset. Chakotay recalls hearing of a Cardassian doctor who performed cruel experiments on Bajor, but was not entirely sure whether they were simply rumors. They find some evidence that Moset may have intentionally infected some of the patients at his hospital in order to find a cure. Chakotay reports this to Captain Janeway.

* * *

Val and DuPont are sharing a meal in his spacious gul's quarters. DuPont was impressed. Her quarters were significantly smaller. In addition, she had to share hers with another maquis crewmember!

On the kitchen counter, DuPont saw that Val had a red box with a cartoon leprechaun on it.

"Magically delicious, eh?" she teased him. It was the catchphrase of the ancient cereal called Lucky Charms. Of course, Val didn't feel embarrassed. He loved that stuff. And, if DuPont didn't also, she would have never known the motto. To Val's credit, he limited his intake of that particular cereal to one time a week. He hadn't replicated a new box in over a month.

Val heard his combadge chirp and gave it a tap.

"Counselor Shin, please report to Voyager's briefing room."

"Uh Oh," said DuPont.

"This better not be about me kidnapping a sick _Voyager_ crewmember," he joked.

* * *

Val arrived in the briefing room 10 minutes later.

"Getting our crewmembers to cut out of their shifts nowadays?" joked Paris.

"She was sick. She has a doctor's note," retorted Val, also jokingly.

"I didn't write her a note," said the Doctor, visibly annoyed.

"Mine did," said Val matter-of-factly.

The Doctor was often annoyed, but this time, much more so. He couldn't believe that the two most childish Starfleet officers he had ever met in his existence were now joking around during a conference meeting regarding such a serious topic.

"Stop it, both of you," said Janeway, also visibly annoyed.

"Counselor Shin," said Chakotay. "Your doctor is exactly the reason we have called this meeting."

Also in the room were Lieutenant Tuvok, and Ensign Tabor.

"Right, I think the two doctors were on the verge of finding a solution. Is everything okay?"

"Not quite, there has been a… complication," said Tuvok.

Tuvok announced his findings from the database search he and Chakotay performed. Val looked a little perplexed. He didn't fully understand what they were discussing and zoned out. It was a never-ending lecture involving a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo about the science of infections and vaccines and enzymes and cures. He was, of course, distracted by something Kejal whispered to him in privacy before he beamed onboard_ Voyager_. She mentioned to him that Karen DuPont bore a striking resemblance to a certain Orion female. Val had countered that the two women were different heights, had different hair color, eye color, and oh, different color over their entire bodies. However, Kejal insisted that their facial features held some similarities. Val never saw that, but he was beginning to question himself.

"Wait. Wrap this up for me. Did you guys find a solution?" asked Val, directed at the Doctor.

"I think so… but…"

"Okay, let's go do it," Val said casually. He got off his seat as if to walk out, probably heading toward sickbay.

"Your doctor kills people," said Tabor.

"Yea, right," said Val dismissively.

The infuriated ensign lunged wildly at Val. Val deftly stepped aside. To add an exclamation point to show that he was not to be trifled with, Val used the young ensign's momentum against him, and slammed his face onto the conference table. Tabor's nose was broken and was he was lying on the floor, bleeding profusely. Val may have been distracted during Tuvok's lecture, but his survival instincts had kicked into gear.

Val knelt down. "Are we done?" he asked.

Tabor tried to get up swiftly in defiance, but Val gently pushed him back onto the ground.

"Are. We. Done?" he asked patiently.

Tabor gritted his teeth, but nodded his assent.

Val turned his back to Tabor and pretended to look away. In fact, he was waiting for Tabor to do something foolish and give him a reason to break a few more bones.

Tabor did not disappoint. He sprung back up, but Chakotay saw the situation unfolding in front of him and gently pushed Tabor off balance. Chakotay gave him a stern look, as if silently saying "back down." Val was surprised by that turn of events.

Tabor was dismissed.

"Counselor, please be seated," insisted Captain Janeway. "What are your thoughts about what Tuvok just uncovered?"

"Frankly, I have no thoughts."

"How could you not have any thoughts!" yelled the Doctor angrily.

"Because I have no idea what he was talking about," admitted Val. "Look, I have like a hundred things on my mind right now. Can you just fast-forward through the science and tell me if you guys found a solution? Because I really don't need to know the details here. Fix the problem." Val was a combination of tired and angry.

"The details are why we are here, counselor," said Janeway, exasperated.

"Okay, fine," said Val as he resigned to being bored to tears. "Please continue."

Tuvok could also see that Val was distracted. He didn't know from what, but he surmised that there was some tension from Val's MARCO troops when he brought a maquis crewmember to visit.

"Long story short, counselor," said Tuvok. "Crell Moset stands accused of multiple atrocities."

"Who?" asked Val absent-mindedly.

"Your doctor!" said the EMH.

"Zet? Wait, I don't get this, what did he do again?"

Tuvok explained that Crell Moset seems to have experimented on many of his patients on Bajor.

"Wait, wait. Rewind this for me. What's this all about? Some Cardassian named Crell Moset?"

"Yes."

"And this all matters because?"

"Because there are medical ethics involved," said the Doctor. "I want to save Kim and Telfer, but doing so would validate Crell Moset and his methods. How can I allow someone who gained his knowledge though cruel experiments to help me? Crell Moset is a monster."

"You realize the person you are referring to is not actually my doctor, right?" asked Val in puzzlement. "I mean, the real Crell Moset is probably in the alpha quadrant somewhere, sipping on a bottle of canar, or whatever it is that Cardassians drink."

The Doctor slid a padd in front of Val with an image of Crell Moset. "Is that your doctor?"

"Are you Lewis Zimmerman?" asked Val. "Because you look like him."

Janeway was not amused.

"Look. My doctor bears the appearance of Crell Moset. But they're not the same. You aren't Zimmerman, my man isn't Moset. Does that sound rational to you?"

In his annoyance at the whole discovery of Crell Moset's past, the Doctor had not thought about the fact that Zet was a hologram.

"Your doctor gained his extensive medical knowledge through cruel experimentation!"

"Doubtful," said Val.

"It's in the database."

"When did this whole Bajor thing happen?" asked Val.

Tuvok gave a short explanation of the timeline.

"Then Zet wasn't involved."

"We know your hologram wasn't directly involved. But his program is based on the person who was. And his knowledge derives from that person."

"No, you don't get it. Zet is the functional equivalent of a fresh-faced med school grad. He was modeled after Crell Moset as he was in his mid-20s, or however old Cardassians are when they finish their schooling. The Moset on Bajor was probably a much more accomplished individual and older. Zet would have none of those experiences."

"Why?" asked the Doctor. He himself was programmed with the experiences of several Starfleet doctors.

"Because Moset worked on highly classified medical projects. His experiences after graduating medical school could not be replicated without also replicating heavily classified information. The Obsidian Order was not interested in creating a possible copy of such information that could fall into enemy hands, in the Gamma quadrant, no less."

Val was glad that his answer seemed satisfactory. Voyager's bridge staff was riled up over nothing.

"We have a potential secondary problem," said Janeway. Word of Moset had spread across the ship. The maquis among the crew were bound to revolt if they knew Moset was involved in a medical procedure.

"But we just went through this whole thing, Zet is not the same person and has derived no knowledge from cruel experiments," said Paris.

"It won't matter to the maquis. The perception will be that Moset helped. Perhaps not from knowledge stemming from his research on Bajor. But Zet arguably contains the personality of Moset. That will not go over smoothly with many maquis members," said Chakotay. He wished it weren't so. He didn't want to watch two crewmembers die over this.

Paris was angry. "So we're just going to let Harry die! Let's just shun the evil hologram and forget that he can save two people's lives."

"You're not the only one who cares about people's lives," said Janeway. She cared about each and every member of her crew, but also had a special interest in Ensign Kim. She was especially protective of him because he was the youngest of her bridge officers.

"Is there another way?" asked Chakotay. "You already know what Zet was planning. You don't really need him."

"It would be preferable to have him," said the Doctor reluctantly. "We have two different personalities. I play it relatively safe. He pushes the envelope. As we were running scenarios at his lab on the _Vetara_, he instinctively performed actions which I would not have."

"That is exactly why he should not be allowed," said Chakotay. "Even if he is a young version of Moset, he carries his personality. A personality which would perform unethical and cruel experiments on people. He should be tried as a criminal."

"You're joking," said Val.

"Are we seriously still arguing over this?" screamed a distraught Paris.

"Now you're getting it in stereo!" said Val, referring to the fact that Janeway was now getting it from Val on her left and Paris from her right.

"There's legal basis for it," said Tuvok.

"You want to charge a hologram? With a crime? A crime he didn't even do?" said Val disbelievingly.

"I'll write up the charges," said Chakotay defiantly.

"You're ridiculous, Chakotay," said Val, repeating the insult he often heard from his MARCOs about the maquis commander. "Forgive the lawyer geek side of me coming out, but even if it were the real flesh and blood Crell Moset sitting on my ship, you wouldn't lay hand on him. Off the bat, you lack both in personam jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. He's a Cardassian on a Cardassian ship. The events you elude to happened outside of Federation territory. What exactly is your jurisdiction here? That you can just do whatever you want?"

A Starfleet ensign entered the briefing room from the bridge.

"I apologize for the intrusion," she said. "Captain Shin, you have an urgent message from your security chief."

Val turned around and said "Thank you, ensign." He was much calmer now.

"Please pardon me," said Val to Janeway. She gestured that it was okay.

Val placed in his earpiece.

"Go ahead, Driver."

"Sir, we just received a message over emergency channel 16. FOF ident squawked as KHG. Message is as follows: monitoring your situation. Detected a squadron of 4 possible hostile contacts heading to your location at high rate of speed. Weapons charged. Configuration matches the ship which recently imploded off _Voyager_'s port bow. No High Guard units near your location. Proceed with caution. Message ends."

"Thank you, staff sergeant." Val pulled his earpiece out.

"We've got company," he told Janeway.

"Tuvok?"

"Nothing on long-range sensors," he said, after double checking.

"Fine," said Val. "With your permission, I'd like to return to my ship. I'll check to see if we're chasing sensor shadows. But I have to prepare my ship for combat. In the event you make the decision to go ahead with the medical procedure and you would like Zet's help, please let me know."

Janeway granted permission, and Val walked out of the room.

"Can you do this without the Cardassian doctor?" Janeway asked her EMH.

"Maybe," he said.

Janeway announces her final decision: Voyager cannot afford to lose her operations officer while lost and alone in the Delta quadrant. If the Doctor cannot save Ensign Kim without Zet's help, then he will get Zet's help. She takes full responsibility for any consequences of her decision.

* * *

Val returned to his ship and started researching _Vetara_'s scans of the alien ship taken before it imploded. He calculated that the likelihood was _Voyager_ could fend off four of those ships if necessary.

That was one less thing to think about.

Val walks down to Zet's lab.

"My captain," he said as Val entered. "Have your friends been treated?"

"Not yet,' said Val. "Listen. _Voyager_'s doctor might ask you to assist in surgery."

"I would be delighted to help," he said in a cheerful mood.

"I'm not allowing it," said Val.

"Sir?"

"Janeway is going to have a revolt on her hands if she allows you to assist in the surgery. Her maquis crewmembers and perhaps even the handful of Bajoran fleet crew will take this the wrong way. You will probably also be in great peril."

"I see… But, your friend Harry might perish."

Val knew the consequences.

* * *

"Counselor, please have your doctor report to my sickbay," said Janeway over the intership comm system.

"I apologize, captain. But I'm afraid I can't allow that. Your doctor will have to perform this operation alone."

"Come again?" said Janeway impatiently.

"This is for the best. You'll avoid a revolt on your ship."

"I can take care of myself. I need my operations officer up and about."

"No," said Val.

"Don't be fooled by those extra pips your friend DuPont gave you," said a frustrated Janeway. "We are not equals. I am giving you a direct order. Have your doctor report to my sickbay. Now."

"I can't order him to do anything," Val lied. "I'm a Starfleet officer, he's a Cardassian. There's no chain of command here." He had never disclosed the whole nonsense about the Cardassians thinking he was with the Bureau and how he actually was the commander of the ship and had authority over both Kejal and Zet.

"I have watched you two interact," said Janeway. "He defers to you. He would most certainly acquiesce to your request."

"That may be so, but I can't ask him to commit suicide. Once he's onboard, your people will try to destroy his program. Even disregarding the tiny inconvenience that I would be left without a medic, how is that fair to Zet?"

"I'll have him protected," said Janeway. This had the potential to lead to a strong internal rift onboard Voyager. Val saw that as well.

Val relented. "That's not necessary." Val didn't want to have Voyager crewmembers fight amongst each other. "I'll have him protected."

Val said that he would convince Zet to perform the surgery on _Voyager_ with tight restrictions. Janeway would have to power down her transporters from the bridge and lock them out with her personal command code. Val would station a dozen MARCOs outside of sickbay and in the surrounding corridors. None of Janeway's security would have to get involved in Zet's protection detail. Janeway agreed and gave her word that nobody would hassle the two doctors.

* * *

"If anyone approaches, take them down," said Staff Sergeant Driver.

"Deadly force has been authorized?" asked Rodriguez.

"Let's not get carried away," said Driver. "Just take them down."

"Fire team Bravo, clear," said Corporal Santiago.

"Fire team Charlie, secure," said Corporal Rodriguez, from inside sickbay.

"Staff sergeant, I have two subjects approaching," said Corporal Logan.

Fire team Adam brought their rifles at the ready. "Halt!" yelled Private McCarter.

Two Starfleet crewmembers stopped in their tracks, and kept their hands in front of them, palms up to show they were not a threat.

"Corporal," said Ensign Samantha Wildman, addressing Logan. "I am hoping you will make one exception."

Coincidentally, Logan and Wildman both had the same first name. Wildman was the head of Voyager's biology division. She was Crewman William Telfer's immediate supervisor. She had brought with her Crewman Celes. Wildman pulled Logan aside and explained to her that Celes was Telfer's best friend. To her knowledge, the two were extremely close, and had no friendships among the rest of the crew. Celes would be devastated if Telfer were to pass. She knew there was high risk of that. In the upcoming operation, if the doctors made a wrong call, the alien life form might decide to kill its host before dying itself. Celes would want to be there.

"This is highly unusual. She should wait with Mr. Paris," responded Logan. Paris was sitting in an adjacent room, with an Ensign Delaney comforting him as he waited for word.

"Please," said Celes.

If this were some ploy, it was a strong one, thought Logan. Celes was clearly distraught.

"I'm sorry," said Logan. "Captain's orders."

"I can get Janeway to change her mind," insisted Wildman.

"Not your captain. My captain," said Logan.

"Please, you must let me convince your captain," said Wildman.

Logan didn't like this situation. She felt sympathy, but this could prove dangerous. She held up a small device and told Celes to stand still. Logan snapped an image of Celes and reported to her captain.

* * *

"How do you feel?" asked Val.

"I think we'll succeed," said a confident Zet.

"Okay, Janeway has locked out her transporters, the MARCOs have secured the perimeter. You should be good to go."

"Thank you, captain."

"Good luck."

Before Val could transfer Zet's program, a chirp came through his earpiece.

"Go ahead."

"Sir, it's Corporal Logan. I have a request for permission to join one of the patients inside."

"Denied," said Val.

"I think you should consider the request," said Logan. She was a tough marine, but she felt for Celes. "I am uploading you an image of the requestee."

Val grabbed his personal display device from his right side cargo pocket.

The image gave him concern. He could see she was crying, but he could also see a fact which Logan was about to relay to him.

"She's Bajora," Logan said.

This was a complication. Val didn't like to judge people by that type of thing, but there was no dismissing that the two ethnicities had deep-rooted hatreds. It would throw a volatile element into the mix. Logan explained the situation regarding Telfer.

"Let me speak with her," said Val.

Logan pulled out her earpiece and handed it to a sobbing Celes.

"Crewman, do you realize who will be performing the operations?" asked Val.

"It doesn't matter to me that the surgeon is a Cardassian hologram," said a tearful Celes. "I just care about Billy making it through this. I want to be there when he awakes. Or, if he passes. I don't want him to be alone."

The crewman sounded sincere enough to Val. He hated these types of decisions. Why is it that things always had to go as least smoothly as possible?

Val asked Celes to hand the earpiece back to Logan.

"Logan, do you have any restraints on you?"

"Yes, sir. Plasti-cuffs."

"Restrain the crewman," he said reluctantly. "Then escort her into sickbay. Keep her under your watch."

"Aye, sir." She tapped her earpiece to close the channel.

"I can let you in," said Logan.

Celes' face beamed. She was still crying.

"But… I have to keep you restrained. I'm sorry, it's the best I could do." Logan brought out a pair of plastic ties from one of her pockets.

Celes was willing. She turned around and voluntarily placed her hands behind her back. She nodded to Ensign Wildman to let her know it was okay and that Wildman could go. After Wildman left, Logan grabbed Celes' right wrist and put on a restraint. Logan pulled the hand in front of Celes and tied her other hand. Logan thought it would be more proper if Celes had her hands in front of her. It would be exponentially more dangerous, though.

"I hope I won't regret this," said Logan. Celes shook her head no. The two of them headed into sickbay, where Rodriguez and three others were standing guard. Celes took a seat next to her friend's biobed.

Val beamed over a replacement for Logan.

* * *

The surgery was a success. Both aliens were extracted from Kim and Telfer. An hour or so later, the 4 alien ships had arrived and Janeway was able to beam the two aliens to one of their ships. The aliens were still injured, but the Doctor had found a way to stabilize the aliens' condition.

Val walked into Zet's lab.

"Congratulations are in order," said Val. "Thanks for your good work."

"Thank you, my captain," said Zet. He wasn't smiling as his captain was. Val could see something was disturbing him.

"You okay?" Val asked.

"I've been thinking… Perhaps the concerns that some _Voyager_ officers had over my personality were valid."

"Nonsense," said Val. "You saved two of their officers. I'm sure they were grateful."

Indeed, both Kim and Telfer were grateful. Paris was quite relieved. Even Celes exhibited gratefulness that her best friend Telfer was saved. Zet did not expect the last one.

"While we were performing surgery, I almost killed one of the aliens," admitted Zet.

"But you didn't. Things turned out fine."

"Only because _Voyager_'s doctor intervened and showed me a secondary spinal nerve bundle as a location where I could apply a neurostatic shock. Otherwise, I would have continued my previous course and perhaps affected permanent brain damage to the aliens."

"Well, you thought you had to. You thought it was either kill the alien, or allow the alien to kill Ensign Kim. You can't second guess things like this," insisted Val.

Zet thought about it for a moment. He was saddened that he couldn't see a better solution. One which created a more optimal outcome. He wondered if his personality was defective in some way.

"My captain," said Zet. "Although I am not Crell Moset, I do contain many of his memories in addition to his personality. I've never respected the field of psychology, and avoided it basically throughout most of my studies. However, during my second-to-last year, I had to take a psych class as a graduation requirement from medical school."

"That sounds about right," said Val.

"I had always known I was slightly different from others. I felt less empathy, had less understanding of emotions. I had always thought that I was just tougher than most people. That my peers were soft. However, after the psychology class, I was able to diagnose myself with a condition. I am a high functioning mild autistic. I believe humans call it Asperger's syndrome. I can hide it relatively well, but it is who I am."

Val had studied Asperger's syndrome briefly in law school. There were debates about whether such a syndrome could render a patient unfit to stand trial. The lack of demonstrated empathy was perhaps the most dysfunctional aspect of the syndrome. Though, Val didn't think this was true of Zet. He had displayed some level of empathy on several occasions. Val tried to think back, and remembered that unlike a typical autistic, an Asperger's patient did not usually withdraw from others. While they often failed to develop friendships, the patients would awkwardly approach others. Linguistic and cognitive abilities of the patients appeared untouched, and many were often quite bright.

"My captain, I believe I may be a burden for you."

"Nonsense," said Val. "You're an asset. You've helped several of my MARCOs when they were injured. You saved two officers' lives today for cryin' out loud. Don't be so down on yourself."

"I could have killed them," said Zet. "There's no telling what could have happened if I went ahead and killed the aliens. They could have killed their hosts in retaliation."

"Look, what happened has happened. We move on. You'll learn from this."

"No, my captain. I do not believe I will. _Voyager_'s Doctor was right, I have unethical personality. Asperger's syndrome makes me a potential liability. I have potential to do great harm. You should not activate me to treat any of your men anymore. Please only use me to catalogue new species, as was my original function."

"Zet. The fact that you would even question yourself proves that you aren't unethical. Crazy people don't wonder whether they're crazy, they think they're perfectly normal. Some of Earth's greatest people were mildly autistic. Artists, detectives. You have skills that can benefit my crew."

"I have potential to do great harm," repeated Zet.

Val thought about it for a minute. Aside from hoping Zet would stay on as the ship's doctor, he truly believed this hologram was being too harsh on himself. While Val knew of Crell Moset's reputation, this hologram did not actually do any of those things.

"You know," said Val. "A lot of people say the same thing about lawyers. The more brilliant they are, the more potential they have to destroy things. Here's the silver lining: your fate isn't written. You choose how to harness your gifts. A professor once compared lawyers to fires. Fires give you light in the darkness, give you warmth in the cold. But they can burn your entire house down if uncontrolled. So, learn to control yourself. You know your weakness, try to adapt."

Zet thought about it for a second, but responded "I don't think I can adapt."

"Well, you haven't tried," said Val. He started walking out of Zet's lab.

"You won't deactivate me?" he asked.

"I think you should have some time to think this through. Work it out. I'll come back in a few days."

* * *

Val had been requested to join Sergeant Driver in one of the _Vetara_'s cargo holds.

As Val walked in, he saw a bunch of marines stand over the prone bodies of three people dressed in Starfleet uniforms. They had been beaten into a bloody pulp. Even the small-sized Coporal Logan, who was barely over 5 feet fall, had pummeled one of the intruders into a bloody mess.

"We found this with them," said Corporal Logan. She showed Val two large duffle bags, full of explosives.

"They would have vaporized a fifth of the ship if they had gone off. The hull would've been breached," added Pfc McCarter.

It had been three days since Kim and Telfer were successfully treated and sent to their quarters to recuperate. _Voyager_ was about to speed off at high warp and let _Vetara_ follow. It appears three members of the maquis wanted to strike before the two ships separated.

A little before 0600, Corporal Logan and her fire team performed their regular checks of the ship's cargo holds. It wasn't really essential, it was just a routine to keep the MARCOs busy doing something. Logan was lucky. As the team was in the cargo hold, they watched as the three maquis beamed into the center of the room. Logan and her men took quick action and subdued the intruders immediately. She advised Sergeant Driver, who brought the ship's shields up and activated his entire platoon to sweep the entire ship for any additional intruders. Internal sensors showed nothing, but he wanted to be sure.

Corporal Rodriguez' team arrived at the cargo hold as back up. Then McCarter discovered the explosives in the bags. When the MARCOs realized what the maquis just attempted, they beat the traitors to within an inch of their lives.

Val couldn't believe the situation. He was furious. He spotted someone he recognized as one of the three.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said. He picked up the young maquis ensign and slammed him against a wall.

"Are you kidding me!" Val screamed, and threw him at another wall.

Val approached him, and punched him right in the gut. The ensign keeled over. Blood dripped from his mouth. He was gasping for air.

"Leave him alone," gasped one of the others on the ground. "It was all my idea. I acted alone. The other two were trying to stop me."

Obviously, that was a lie, since all three of them beamed in together.

Val knelt down to the one who spoke.

"And why would you do such a thing?" asked Val.

"Because…. Because Crell Moset killed my grandfather. I watched it happen," said the maquis lying on the ground.

"Well, that's an interesting story," said Val. "Tell me, what month did your grandfather die?"

Silence.

"How was the weather? Was it raining? Sunny?"

Silence.

"What did it smell like?"

Silence.

"You see," said Val. "These little minor details are something that would be etched into your memory during something like, say, witnessing the murder of a loved one."

"This will never be done," said Sergeant Raines. "We have to execute them."

"Matt!" said Staff Sergeant Driver.

"Sir, Sergeant Raines is right," insisted Corporal Rodriguez. "The maquis said so themselves. They'll never stop until they destroy our ship."

Corporals Logan, Rodriguez, and Morris all drew their pistols, and aimed right at the foreheads of the maquis.

Val didn't want this, but he did want to end it once and for all.

"Permission to fire," asked Rodriguez.

Val was silent.

"Permission to fire," repeated Rodriguez.

Driver walked up to Val and whispered in his ear.

"If you're going to do this sir, you better be sure. You can't unkill someone."

"Would you do it?" asked Val. Driver was the more experienced combat veteran. He was in charge of security. His views were important to Val.

"Hell yea I would," said Driver with a low voice but resolutely. "But I'm not the captain of this ship. You are."

These three were enemy saboteurs. Punishable by death on the high seas, if a vessel captain was convinced of guilt. That concept extended into deep space if remote enough from a proper prosecuting authority. Val thought the delta quadrant counted.

"Sidearm," said Val.

Driver handed Val his nickel-plated sidearm. It contained 9 bullets. Val chambered a round. He aimed the pistol at the maquis ensign's head, and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Captain Kathryn Janeway was reviewing a few personnel files with her vice captain.

"It appears William Telfer is not longer a hypochondriac," said Janeway.

"Good," said Chakotay. "Maybe I can finally put him on an away mission." As vice captain, Chakotay had been responsible for created the crew rosters for away missions. Telfer had always ducked out from his responsibilities.

"Regarding Celes, I think we need to rotate her out of her analyst position. She doesn't seem fit for it."

"I agree. We'll see if we can find something else for her. But I'm afraid we're stretched pretty thin and we probably need her where she is."

"Think she can keep up?" asked Janeway.

"We'll have to make do with what resources we have," said Chakotay.

Janeway was interrupted by an incoming communication.

"Doctor to the captain."

"Go ahead."

"Three injured maquis crewmembers were just beamed into sickbay."

"From where?" asked Chakotay.

"I'd venture a guess and say the _Vetara_."

"But computer records show nobody left the ship," said Chakotay.

"These maquis crewmembers don't have their combadges. They probably took them off to fool the internal sensors."

"What were they doing on the _Vetara_?" asked Janeway.

"Judging by their injuries, they were being used as punching bags."

"Janeway to the bridge. Tuvok, get me Counselor Shin on the line."

"Captain," said Tuvok. "The _Vetara_ just jumped into warp 20 seconds ago."

"Track them and engage a pursuit course."

"Aye, captain," said Paris.

"You have a private message from Captain Shin," said Tuvok.

Janeway viewed the message in her office.

"Your men just tried to bomb my ship," said the image of Val.

Janeway was shocked.

"Normally, this would call for capital punishment. They had the intention to kill many. They were unremorseful after being caught. And they said they would attempt again if given another chance. I leave their punishment in your hands. As for our crews getting along, that ship has sailed. This will never be over for the maquis. I think the best thing to do here is go our separate ways. Goodbye, Captain Janeway."

Val's image flickered off.

* * *

Val sat in his office, pondering what his next move should be. His door chime rang.

"Enter."

Staff Sergeant Nathan Driver stepped inside the office.

"Please, have a seat."

"Thank you, sir."

"What's on your mind?"

"I'm thinking that joining the Krowtonan might not be the best idea."

"Do you think that's what I intend to do?" asked Val.

"I can see you're considering it," said Driver.

"Tell me. What is your opinion of Max Burke?"

"He appears to be a fine officer. A strong commander."

"But?"

"He's damaged, sir."

"How do you mean?"

"I can see it in his eyes. Like I see it in many soldiers' eyes. He has killed one too many people. He has been hardened by death."

"How about you?"

"I'm the same way."

"You and Burke are the same?"

"In a word: yes."

"You think Burke could lead you better than me?"

"In battle, I would take Burke over you any day of the week and twice on Sundays."

Driver's honesty surprised Val.

"But here's the thing, sir: battle is my job, not yours," added Driver.

"How so?"

"Your job is to get us home, sir. I would've executed those maquis crewmen. Every MARCO would have. Burke definitely would have. Hell, probably even Kejal and Zet would have. You chose another way. You chose not to make war with Janeway and her ship."

"Well…"

"No, you chose the better outcome. Further antagonizing Janeway would have meant more trouble. We MARCOs would have brushed off that risk. You beamed her men back intact. That means something to her."

"I just burned the bridge with her. You don't think we need an ally like the Krowtonan?"

"I'm not saying to make enemies of the Krowtonan," said Driver. "We can be collegial. But you will not fit in with their methods. Their style is more nuanced, and quite frankly, more brutal than you can stomach. I can do it. Burke can do it. You can not."

* * *

"I've contacted the area commanders for the next three operational theaters of Krowtonan Space. They've been alerted to your presence. You will receive escorts from time to time if there are free ships available. Perhaps they might even want to meet you as many have never met a human in person. Hope things are well. Safe journey."

Val had informed Burke that he would continue _Vetara_'s course for the Alpha Quadrant. Burke said he would try to make Val's trip across Krowtonan space as smooth as possible.

"Thank you, sir," said Val. He said the word sir in more of a friendly way as opposed to hierarchical.

"You're welcome. Remember, you're among friends when you're among the Krowtonan. Godspeed, captain."


	5. Chapter 5 Inactive

Written: 3-16-2011

Title: Inactive

Val curled up on his couch and started reading the next chapter in the novel he had been reading for the past week. It was an old scientific mystery thriller, from the late 20th century. He was enjoying it thus far.

It had just past midnight when his door chime rang.

"Enter," he said.

It was Staff Sergeant Driver. He entered into Val's quarters and walked toward the couch. About 6 feet from the couch, Driver threw a box onto the couch seat next to Val.

"Welcome to old age, my good sir," said Driver.

It was Val's birthday. Several minutes ago, he turned 30 Earth years old. The box was covered in green wrapping paper, with reindeer and snowmen. Christmas had been months ago.

"Thank you, staff sergeant."

"It's from all the MARCOs," said Driver. "Open it."

Val carefully removed the tape from the sides of the box and gingerly ripped off the wrapping paper.

"My God, man," said Driver. "This isn't surgery. Don't tell me you're going to keep that wrapping paper for sentimental reasons."

"I don't like making a mess, okay?" said Val. "Why'd you wrap this thing anyway?"

"I didn't," said Driver. "Sergeant Hall did. She thought it would be inappropriate for a birthday present to not be wrapped."

"I'm digging the reindeer," joked Val.

"That's what the computer came up with when Julie asked it to replicate wrapping paper."

Val eventually opened the box. There were three books inside, in hard copy. Driver had learned that Val preferred to read physical books as opposed to electronic versions. Val had a small library of dozens back at his home on Earth. It's as if he lived in ancient times. He enjoyed the feel of a book in his hands. He enjoyed turning the pages. He enjoyed the smell of the fresh pages as he continued on deeper into the book. Val never kept any books in his JAG office or his quarters on Deep Space Five. Driver figured that since the trip home would take at least several years, maybe Val might like the comfort of starting a tiny library again.

The first book was a short novella. It was a Dixon Hill mystery. Even though Val was a relatively slow reader, he knew he could finish that story pretty quick. The second was arguably not a book at all. It was a thin comic book; a Captain Proton adventure. The third book was a heavy duty textbook, an introductory text on Andorian micro-organisms and how they compare with those found on Earth. It was at least a thousand pages, but Val thought he would probably enjoy it to some extent. Even if he wasn't going to read it, he would probably marvel at the pictures and diagrams of the alien organisms. The wonders of biology amused him as a child.

"Please thank your men for me," said Val. He held the large textbook in both of his hands. "This should put me to sleep quite effectively," he joked.

"You're welcome," said Driver. "And by the way, I'm relieving you of command for the next 23 hours."

"Come again?"

"You heard me. You're an old man, rest up," joked Driver.

"You're six years older than I am!" retorted Val.

"Well, I'm a MARCO. You're a soft squid. Anyway, from what I understand, we're just flying through empty space for the next day. Nothing that would need your attention. I don't want to see you on the bridge today. If anything comes up, I'll get you. Visit the holosuite or something. Do something fun for a day."

"I will."

"Happy birthday, sir," said Driver as he walked out of Val's room.

* * *

Val woke up around 0730 hours. Even though he had not set an alarm, his body naturally woke up around that time, give or take about 30 minutes.

He just finished eating breakfast and was about to brush his teeth when someone appeared in his quarters. Val caught her silhouette in the mirror.

"Kejal, I thought your program no longer materialized in my quarters."

"I'm not your hologram," said the slightly annoyed newcomer.

Val turned around and found a male human in his quarters. This human was about Val's height, which was short relative to an average male. He was Caucasian, and was dressed in light armor from ancient times.

"And what, praytell, are you?" asked Val. Part of him still thought this was some kind of prank. Perhaps Driver had convinced Kejal that this would be a funny birthday prank. This character seemed straight out of a gladiator movie.

"Can't you tell?" asked the intruder.

"Some kind of Roman soldier, I presume?"

"You're getting warm. Look at the armor, it's purple. What should that signify?"

Val wasn't usually the type to play games, but he thought he'd play along with the prank.

"I guess royalty."

"Getting warmer."

"So, you're pretending to be royalty from ancient times. Color me impressed, Kejal."

The intruder disappeared in a brilliant flash, and then reappeared right next to Val.

"Like I said, I'm not your hologram. I'm a Praetorian Guard. A general, to be exact. Quintus is the name. At your service."

"Quintus," said Val. "What are you doing in my quarters?"

"You, kind sir, are in need of an advisor. And what better advisor to have than me? As a member of the Q continuum, I see some potential in the human race. And some potential in you in particular."

"Right…"

Quintus snapped his fingers. In a flash, a person from Val's past appeared in his quarters. It was Navaar. She seemed to be disoriented, not knowing what just happened. She turned and noticed Val.

"Val?" she asked, meekly. She was confused, and surprised. She started to approach Val cautiously.

Val took in what he was seeing. He wanted to say something like "How do I know that's not just another hologram?" to Quintus, but he knew these weren't holograms. The flashes were different from a hologram materializing. Before she got close to Val, Quintus snapped his fingers and Navaar disappeared.

"You see what I can do for you?"

"What makes you think I'd want to pull her from her home and maroon her in a far flung corner of the galaxy?" asked Val.

"Unselfish, I like that. Then, perhaps the cute as a button Miss Karen DuPont. She's already lost in the delta quadrant."

"First of all, it's not like that. Second of all, even if it was, I wouldn't need your help with that."

"Cocky, I like that even more."

Val stood there, silent. He was waiting for Quintus to explain more about himself.

"Then perhaps I can show you how life would be if you hadn't gotten yourself marooned in the delta quadrant. Q showed Captain Jean-Luc Picard his feelings for an archeologist female, and also showed Picard how a seemingly unwise decision in his youth helped shape the man he would become in the future. You regret your actions which led to the MARCO platoon being placed on the _U.S.S. Voyager_. Perhaps you'd like to see what an alternate timeline would have looked like."

"Not interested," said Val. "What's done is done. People shouldn't look back. Hakuna matata, you know what I mean?"

Val had referenced an old song he found amusing as a child. It was from a cartoon. The phrase meant you should put your past behind you.

"You talk a good game, but I know you don't mean it. You think about it often. But I won't show you your alternate timeline. That would be boring. And contrived. This isn't a Christmas movie."

"So why are you here?"

"It's your birthday. What better gift than for you to know that you have a guardian angel watching over you?"

"You're my guardian angel?" Val asked in disbelief.

"Well… I'm really just here to study you. But I'd like to help you along the way. You're an… interesting individual."

"What is your interest in me?"

"We in the Q continuum have an interest in people who may have a hand in guiding important events in history. After Q randomly stumbled into Captain Picard, he stuck with him over the years because Picard was a potentially important person in history. His position as the commanding officer of the Federation flagship placed him in the middle of important events."

"Then you're bothering the wrong person. I'm nobody. You should be guardian angel-ing Admiral Burke."

"Ah. The Admiral Maximus. What makes you think I haven't already visited him?"

"So why are you here?"

"Well, even Q eventually got bored with Captain Picard. Surprisingly, I got bored with the Admiral Maximus after just a couple of visits. I guess that happens sometimes, as Q got bored with Commander Sisko after just one brief visit. However, I must say, I have great hopes for you. You seem much more fascinating than the Admiral Maximus."

"Why?"

"In a word, you are unpredictable. Wildly so. You're hot, then you're cold. One second you're ready to put a bullet in a maquis ensign's head. The next second, you beam that same ensign over to _Voyager_, sans the well-deserved extra hole in the head."

"What can I say? I'm a complicated man."

"And that's what makes you interesting."

"There's lots of interesting people. I bet some of the patients in an insane asylum are pretty interesting. I would ask that you just leave me alone."

"Well, in addition to interesting, you're also in a unique position. You can tip the balance of power in this region of space. I'm prepared to say you might have more sway than our friend Maximus Orwell Burke."

"How can that be? He commands dozens of ships and probably has thousands under his command. I have a downsized platoon of 27 troopers."

"And two holograms."

"Right…"

"The Admiral Maximus is a known partisan. He's entrenched in the system. Some might say he's already compromised. You, one the other hand, stand outside the system. You are seen as a neutral party, despite your seeming friendship with the Krowtonan High Guard. What you say and how you behave might have a strong effect during the coming civil war."

"So there will be a civil war?"

"Looks likely. And very soon."

"Aren't you Q omniscient? Don't you know?"

"We can't predict the actions of people. That's what makes you interesting, remember? You might change the entire course of events. Or you might be completely inconsequential."

"Great. Put me down for number two. I just want to make it out of these next few sectors in one piece. I'd rather not die as a martyr."

"It's your choice. But, like I said, you're hot one minute and cold the next. I wouldn't be surprised if you plunge full throttle into this whole thing."

"This is an internal conflict. No matter how serious the fighting gets, Starfleet's directive 306 instructs me to stay away from it all."

"You speak as if you are still a Starfleet officer. Look at you. You captain a Cardassian ship. You command two MARCO squads and a couple of holograms. You've pretty much gone awol in the eyes of Janeway. You and Maximus Burke ceased being Starfleet officers a long time ago. The Emperor and the Crown Prince will have a falling out. They will have differing opinions as to the best way to deal with the various rebellions. One will be ruthless. The other will want to be more accommodating towards his subjects. Maximus will have to pick a side. As will you. Choose wisely."

Val thought about that for a while. This whole situation sounded familiar to him. It was as if he had read a novel with a similar plot.

"Why are you dressed like that?" asked Val.

"Ah, this was the persona I decided to take on for the Admiral Maximus. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a suitable one for you."

Quintus snapped his fingers and his Roman armor changed into a Starfleet uniform. His rank insignia identified him as a captain. However, his shoulders were purple instead of red. Nobody in Starfleet wore uniforms with purple.

"So, mister advisor, advise me. What should I do? Should I continue in my attempt to get back to the alpha quadrant? Would I even ever make it back? Or should I ally myself with the Krowtonan? Perhaps settle down in Evansville once all the dust clears from the civil war. Would I be happy settling down?"

"Young captain, I can't advise you on such things. You need to make those decisions yourself."

"So, you're of no use to me. Thanks."

Quintus was amused. "I'll tell you this: you might perhaps consider being more proactive in the events surrounding you. You tend to sit back and watch things unfold a little bit before you jump into action. That's fine in many circumstances. But if you want to be an important man in history, you can't just sit back."

"Who said I wanted to go down in history? I'd be perfectly fine being forgotten."

"I will also tell you this: if you stay on the sidelines, there might not be a happy ending for you and your men. Both sides may view you as a threat. If you're not with them, you're against them, you know what I mean?"

* * *

Ensign Marlena Gilmore was glad to be back in her quarters on the _U.S.S. Solstice_. She thought Pow Beeshar was a kind person, but she missed her boyfriend during the 2 weeks she was gone. It had been her third stint in the past months onboard one of the Krowtonan frigates to oversee an upgrade to their engines.

Her boyfriend walked into her quarters. He didn't need to ring the door chime for permission to enter. Marlena excitedly hugged him and they shared a quick kiss.

"Did you miss me, Maxwell?"

"I always do."

Marlena sat down on her couch and Max told her he would join her in a minute after sending out a final message. It was an order to a ground contingent under his command.

"Colonel, you have permission to engage the enemy. Happy hunting," the message read. He then shut off the computer and took off his combadge. He didn't want to be disturbed in the next several hours.

Max returned to his loving girlfriend and they cuddled on her couch.

* * *

The Emperor paced in his situation room.

"What ships do I have in the vicinity?"

"None, sir," said Shi Tevtor. Shi was the Krowtonan rank for minister. He was the civilian equivalent of a three star general, and an advisor to the Emperor on emergency response protocols. "Our two closest ships are unarmed auxiliary craft and would take over 48 hours to arrive."

That wouldn't help. This could be over in less than a day.

"However, there is one option," said the minister.

"Which is?"

"There is a non-aligned ship approaching the area in less than 10 hours. The _Vetara_. She's a Starfleet ship, it seems. Her captain is friends with the Admiral Maximus, and the admiral may be able to convince him to assist."

"Contact the admiral," said the Emperor.


	6. Chapter 6 Inheritance

Posted: May 20, 2011

Title: Inheritance

"Sir, you have a visitor at reception ," came the voice on the intercom.

"Do I have any appointments scheduled for today? Who is it?"

"No appointments, sir. She's a freighter captain. She insists it's urgent."

"One of our freighters?"

"No, sir. I think it's a Federation freighter."

"How do I know this person?"

"She knows your brother. Or… Sorry, sir, I guess she knew your brother."

The junior associate governor of the Ferenginar Reserve Bank sighed. He had lost his brother several months ago. He switched off the screen on the computer he had been working on.

"Please send her in," he said

* * *

"This is an OUTRAGE!" screamed Kee.

"I told you," said Staff Sergeant Driver.

"Tough. It's my ship," said Val.

Val and a couple MARCO squads had just entered Cargo Bay 2. Kee had just been beamed aboard the Vetara without his firearm. The rest of his entourage was similarly disarmed.

"Who's in charge here?" asked Driver. He was looking at a group of about 25 Krowtonan.

"I am," said a young female in a huff. "Explain yourself."

"Explain myself?" asked Val. "We just saved your butts from a malfunctioning spaceship."

"You have taken the arms of my men. Restore them immediately."

"You are in no position to demand anything," said Val.

"I am the first princess of Yammja. You will return my men's arms. Now!"

"Great. Princess of Yammja. Well, consider yourselves confined to the illustrious kingdom of Cargo Bay 2," said Val as he waved his arm to indicate the cavernous cargo bay.

"This is not the proper conduct of a nobleman," insisted the princess. The Krowtonan only allowed high born individuals to command heavy battle cruisers. Judging by the size of the _Vetara_, the princess had surmised Val to be at least a mid ranking noble. Perhaps even a count. Of course, since she was a princess, a count would be obliged to serve her every whim.

"I guess not," replied Val.

Kee and a couple of his warriors made a motion that seemed as if they wanted to attack Val. Immediately, several MARCOs brought their rifles up and the Krowtonan backed down. Driver did not bother to unsling his rifle from his shoulder. He knew his troopers had the Krowtonan covered.

As Val and Driver started to walk out of the cargo bay, another Krowtonan approached. He spoke with a much more friendly tone.

"M'lord," he said. "Please forgive the young princess and the pow."

"You are?" asked Val.

"I am called Flin. I am the princess' principal Shi." Flin had served as the princess' father's advisor for foreign relations, and had the demeanor of a diplomat.

"Do not worry, Flin. I will deliver you and your people safe and sound to your destination."

"I have no doubt you will, m'lord," said Flin. "However, it is not necessary to confine us to your cargo bay. We are of no threat to you."

"That's fine," said Val. He had no real intent on keeping his guests confined. He had wanted to make a point early after the heated exchange over the communications channel when the Krowtonan angrily insisted that they be allowed to keep their weapons before they agreed to be beamed aboard. When the two parties couldn't reach an agreement, Val told Kejal to beam them all to Cargo Bay 2. The royal transport had been on the verge of losing life support. There was no time to negotiate.

"We are grateful for our rescue, and for your hospitality, m'lord," said Flin as he put his right fist to his chest and bowed slightly as a sign of respect.

"You're welcome. My security chief will show you to your assigned quarters."

"Thank you."

Val walked out of the Cargo Bay and left Sergeant Driver and his MARCOs to deal with the newcomers.

* * *

Courtney McDonnell knocked on the door.

"Come in."

She opened the door and gestured for her guest to enter the office.

"Sir, this is Navaar. She's with the United Federation Agency for Interplanetary Development."

"Please, have a seat," said the young man as he gestured to one of the chairs facing his desk.

"Court, can you please bring me fruit smoothie?"

"Sure, Mr. Shin."

"Would you like anything?" he asked Navaar.

"No, thank you," Navaar said politely.

Courtney nodded and stepped out to fetch the smoothie.

"So… you knew my brother?" asked Shin. Whitford Shin was the junior associate governor in charge of Earth relations at the Ferenginar Reserve Bank's central office. He liked working in finance. He loved numbers. But he hated the climate on this planet. He hadn't eaten anything crispy in months. The humidity was overbearing. Everything was moist. In fact, every food he had eaten had the texture of soggy bread.

"I did. Val and I were… close."

"I see," said Whitford. He tried to remember if his brother had ever mentioned an Orion before. He didn't recall an instance of that. "What brings you to Ferenginar?"

"Do you know anything about your brother's disappearance?" asked Navaar.

"Only that it involved a fugitive retrieval operation to capture some member of the maquis. A relatively high ranking one. He and his men were harassing Federation shipping lanes near the DMZ."

"Do you know what ship he was on?" asked Navaar.

"The _U.S.S. Voyager_. Why?"

"This is going to sound crazy, but I don't think he was on that ship."

"What makes you think that?"

"This is a long story, but hear me out."

"Okay…"

"Several nights ago, I experienced a strange teleportation event."

"Teleportation?"

"Right… well, I'm not really sure what it was. One second I was on the flight deck of my ship, and the next second, I was seemingly beamed onto another ship."

"So you were beamed onto another ship?"

"Seemingly. Only, there were no ships anywhere near my ship at the time. I considered that it was perhaps a cloaked vessel, but to my knowledge, ships can't operate transporters while cloaked."

"That sounds about right."

"So, somehow, I was brought onboard another ship. I can't remember completely, it lasted for 20 seconds at most. But I saw Val standing there, in what appeared to be his quarters."

"Are you sure this wasn't just some type of dream, or a memory?"

"No. No. This was real, not a dream. Nor was this a memory. The quarters I saw him in appeared to be of Cardassian design. We were never in such a place."

"Cardassian? Maybe he was on DS9?"

"Maybe. I don't know. At first, I was facing a porthole, and the stars out of the window did not look familiar. I began looking around the room slowly. I have an eidetic memory, so I can picture it right now as I speak. I was standing near a couch. On that couch were a Captain Proton comic book and a microbiology encyclopedia of some sort."

"Okay… Well, my brother hated Captain Proton, so that probably wasn't his. I mean, we loved comic books as kids, but he was always a bigger fan of the comics with superhero teams than individual heroes. He constantly decried about how he disliked Superman because he had every superpower imaginable, and preferred the teams where each member had a different power and therefore contributed to the team."

"Right…" said Navaar. She liked Val a lot, but his comic book geekiness was not something she found attractive. Luckily for her, Val had figured that early on, and so did not talk about to subject much when they conversed.

"So, you saw the comic book, and…?" said Whitford, attempting to steer the conversation back to her train of thought.

"I saw a computer padd laying on the coffee table. It appeared to be a personnel roster of some sort. The ship name was _Vetara_. Val's name was under it, assigned as the ship's commander. The second in command appeared to be the ship's engineer, named Kejal, and Val's security chief appeared to be someone named "Nate." I couldn't read any family or clan names."

"Okay."

"Well, when I got back, I made it a point to write every detail down, even though I can remember as if it just happened. I checked the registry of ships operating under Cardassian central command, and there is no such ship as the _Vetara_. I checked the name Kejal and there is no such engineer in Starfleet. I considered the possibility she was on loan from the Bajoran militia, but there is no such person with that organization either. No Starfleet officer serving on _Voyager_ was named Nate, or Nathan, or Nathaniel."

"Okay, so now you're giving me evidence that these are people that don't exist on a ship that doesn't exist."

"Well… I did a little bit more digging. You know how the Obsidian Order collapsed a few weeks ago?"

"Yea, after the Omarion Nebula fiasco. It was all over the newsfeeds."

"Some of the Order's operational files were liberated from the government's classified secure servers. I looked through them, and found something of interest. Before the combined Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar fleet started their operation, the two agencies each sent ships into the Gamma quadrant for recon. By law, the Obsidian Order did not possess any warships, so they had to start building them covertly in the Orias system. But as the ships were being built, the Cardassians wanted some more background information on the Gamma Quadrant. One of the Order's field commanders was close with Gul Macet, who leant the Order one of his warships. The document trail then gets a little hazy, but there is some suggestion that one of the ships under Macet's command might have been named the _Kejal_. Macet's flagship is named the _Vetar_, but that ship is currently operating in Cardassian space."

"So the Obsidian Order sent a scout ship to recon Gamma. It was most likely destroyed in the ensuing conflict. Why would it have involved my brother?"

"I think the Obsidian Order was too short-handed to man the ship. They were concentrating to building their attack fleet and needed every available officer and deckhand for their soon-to-be built ships. Faced with possibly not getting adequate intelligence from the Gamma Quadrant, I believe the Romulans or Cardassians reached out to Starfleet and asked to borrow manpower. I think your brother was assigned to command the _Vetara_."

"That makes very little sense. Val was a prosecutor. He wasn't actually an officer of the line," said Whitford.

"I know not everything makes sense, but I know your brother's still alive. I can feel it."

"We all want him to be alive. It doesn't make it so. You saw him in a dream, that's all."

"Maybe," said Navaar. She was debating with herself whether she should discuss the possibility that Val was a Section 31. She wasn't sure Whitford knew. And even if he did, she wasn't she whether he'd deny it.

"But," insisted Navaar. "If Val is still alive and stranded in the Gamma Quadrant, shouldn't we notify Starfleet or something?"

"Right. And tell them what? You saw him in a dream? Starfleet isn't going to send a ship to Gamma after the Dominion just mowed down a fleet of twenty Cardassian Keldons and Romulan warbirds. If it's true that Val somehow got himself mixed up in this Gamma debacle, let's just hope that the Cardassians had enough sense to outfit Val's ship with a cloaking device and that his ship is slowly limping back to the wormhole as we speak."

Whitford's suggestion made Navaar smile inside. It would make sense for the _Vetara_ to be equipped with a cloak. After all, the Romulans had been willing to lend the tech for the Keldon warships for the joint assault and a while back had also leant it to the _U.S.S. Defiant_ in return for intel about the Gamma Quadrant. Navaar was satisfied with her meeting. Even if she didn't get Starfleet to do anything, at least she told Val's brother.

Navaar stood up and reached over to shake Whitford's hand.

"It was nice to meet you," she said. "Maybe the next time we meet, Val will have made it home."

"Here's hoping," said Whitford. Although, he wasn't sure he believed a word his Orion visitor said.

* * *

"They're doing okay. At first they were a handful but it appears things are under control," said Val.

"Glad to hear it," said Burke. "Oh, by the way, the Emperor has made you a warlord."

"Come again?" said a slightly confused Val.

"You've been granted a noble title, in gratitude for you rescuing his distant relatives."

"Yea, I think I'd prefer some other title there."

"Your official title, at least for now, is the Baron Vetara. You've been named after your ship."

"Great…"

"The Emperor decided to start you off slowly. You could've been named a Count, like me."

"Lemme guess, the Count Solstice?"

"Ha. Actually, I'm the Count of San Angeles. Don't ask me how that came about."

"I guess that's better than the warlord of San Angeles."

"All of the noble ranks are split into warlords or landlords. So, either you primarily fight, or you rule over land. Which do you think better describes you?"

"Okay, whatever. This is just a temporary thing anyway, right? Until I deliver the princess and her entourage?"

"I'm guessing you'll probably get to keep the title. You've now been inserted into the Krowtonan High Guard command hierarchy, on an interim basis. With the exception of flagships and heavy cruisers, you have command authority over High Guard ships in your vicinity. That authority will probably end once you've delivered the princess."

The doorchime to Val's quarters rang.

"I'll speak with you later. Enjoy your night," said Burke. The screen blinked off and Val walked over to his doorway.

"Enter," said Val as he approached within 3 feet of the door.

The princess entered, looked around, and seemed slightly displeased.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked Val.

"Your quarters are significantly larger than mine," said the princess.

"Your accommodations are the largest guest quarters we have onboard," said Val.

"I demand we exchange quarters. Now!" she insisted.

"Your current accommodations are quite sufficient. In fact, it is my understanding that they are much larger than your quarters on your royal yacht."

"You will address me properly as 'your highness.' You will pay me proper respect, and you will satisfy my request."

"You, highness, will leave my quarters this instant. Or I will remove you myself."

"You wouldn't dare!" she said in a huff.

Val tapped his combadge. "Security team to the captain's quarters."

"Who do you think you are?" yelled the princess. "You are a lowly baron, with no land to call yours. Not even a county. I rule over a planet. What makes you think you can disobey me?"

"I'm the captain of this ship. And I would have gladly left you to die on your royal yacht. Even if your yacht's environmental and propulsion systems hadn't been damaged from a previous firefight, sensors picked up 3 enemy combat patrols closing in on your ship. You had lost both your escorts. You would have perished."

Corporal Logan and Pfc. McCarter entered the captain's quarters.

"Corporal Logan, please escort the princess back to deck 7," said Val calmly. All of the guest quarters were located on that deck.

The princess slapped Val. Then the two of them stared angrily at each other for three seconds before the princess stormed out into the hallway.

Logan and McCarter stood by, a little bit frozen. What was Logan to do? Throw the princess in the brig? Val could see her hesitation.

"Just make she her highness over there makes it back to her deck. I'm revoking wandering privileges for her and the rest of the Krowtonan. Confine them to deck 7 and the mess hall."

"Aye, sir," responded Logan.

* * *

Whitford had just finished breakfast and was about to head into the office. It was a Sunday, and he would normally be off. But there were some things he had to wrap up. He decided he would head into the office for half the day and then go to the gym. He hadn't played basketball in a while and searched for his sneakers.

As he searching around in his walk-in closet, he happened upon a box of Val's personal effects. One of Val's Starfleet colleagues had delivered it to Whitford after Val was declared missing in action. Inside the box were some of Val's knick-knacks that were scattered across his desk in his JAG office. He noticed a couple of two and a half inch mini-figures of characters from a Disney movie called "Beauty and the Beast." There was the Beast, who was some sort of cross between a lion and a bear. He was dressed in a fancy suit. His companion, named Belle, was dressed in a yellow ball gown. The cartoon movie was Val's favorite as a child.

Whitford then began thinking about his visitor from two days ago. What if she was somehow right? While he did not believe she was teleported to the Gamma Quadrant, Whitford had heard some rumors that a very small percentage of Orion females developed psychic bonds with their mates, similar to betazoids. It was a stretch, but stranger things have happened.

During the standard missing persons investigation, DS9 security had trouble finding anyone who had witnessed Val actually boarding the _U.S.S. Voyager_. That wasn't completely surprising. Who would remember such a thing? But it was a loose end.

Before heading out the door, Whitford decided to message one of his friends who used to be news reporter. This friend was often interested in conspiracy theories. Whitford was going to see what his friend thought about the possibility that Starfleet used the Voyager mission as a ruse to place Val at DS9 and then subsequently send him and a few others into the Gamma Quadrant for a scouting mission.

* * *

The First Princess of Yammja approached the massive MARCO leader.

"Sergeant, tell your captain that I wish to speak with him," she said.

"I'm sorry, princess. I don't think he's in any mood to be bothered."

"Tell him anyway."

"Oh-kay," said Driver, sounding a little sarcastic. He would tell Val, but he was quite sure Val would not want to meet with any of the Krowtonan. Val had left his confinement instructions quite clear.

As Driver turned and walked away, the princess had something more to say.

"Sergeant," she said. Driver stopped and turned. It took a few seconds for the princess to say what she wanted to say. Driver stood there, a little impatient.

"Please tell your captain that I apologize for striking him," she said.

Sergeant Driver had heard there was an argument in Val's quarters a couple of nights before. But he did not know what exactly happened. He was surprised that the altercation got physical.

* * *

Val stood in front of a computer in engineering as Kejal watched. He had been studying a schematic for over an hour.

Prior to beaming the Krowtonan over to cargo bay 2, Val had skimmed over the inventory logs to check that there were no weapons stored there. There were none. However, he made a note to inventory all the weapons that were onboard the _Vetara_. Earlier in the morning he decided to check on a couple of crates in the shuttle bay which were marked as containing Cardassian disruptor rifles. To Val's surprise the two crates contained pieces of a device. Val wasn't quite sure what it was, but it piqued his interest. After an hour of examination, he was able to figure out that the device was designed to attach directly to the Cardassian ship's engines, and that the device design was Romulan in origin. Val was going on the theory that the device was capable of extending the maximum speed that the Vetara could travel. That would be of great help. In general, Romulan ships were capable of significantly greater speeds than the Cardassian warships.

Staff Sergeant Driver entered engineering.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir" said Driver.

"No, that's okay," said Val. He had been a little tired of looking over the schematics. It might be better to return to them with a fresh pair of eyes.

"Her highness the princess of Yammja would like to speak with you."

Val nodded. He was resigned to putting up with the annoyance for the next few days. Then he could finally drop her off on her planet and be done with this.

"Did she say what about? Are we flying too slowly for her tastes?"

"Well… she said that she would like me to tell you first that she apologizes for hitting you."

That slightly decreased Val's annoyance. But it was still there. She shouldn't have hit him in the first place.

"And then she complained about something?"

"Not quite. She asked me if you knew how to dance."

"Dance?"

"Yes, sir. I told her you probably could. She said she needed a dance partner."

"Well, that is something I will trust to delegate to you, my trusty right hand man."

"I had asked her why she couldn't partner with one of her entourage, perhaps one of her advisors. She said it had to be you. Only you."

"Wonderful," said Val sarcastically.

* * *

"Full revolt. The southern continent is in full revolt," reported Commandant Sardu. He was in charge of Home Guard forces tasked to quell the rebellion on Yammja.

"This is unacceptable. What have your men been doing for the past two and half months?" asked Admiral Burke.

"They've been holding their positions, under constant attack," said Sardu, insisting that his troops were competent, but severely outmanned.

"The princess' coronation is in less than 6 days. You've lost control of about one third of the planet?"

"I didn't lose anything," said Sardu. "It was lost by the time my battalion arrived here. I've sent multiple detailed situation reports over the past four weeks, requesting further reinforcements. The Home Guard is stretched too thin."

Burke immediately ordered the _Solstice_ to Yammja Prime. Along with the _Solstice_, Burke managed to pull two medium armed frigates off of their assigned defensive area patrols to meet up with the _Solstice_. Well, to Burke they were medium armed. But the frigates were the second heaviest armed ships in the Krowtonan fleet. One of these was Pow Beeshar's _Yond_. The frigate _Yond_ would rendezvous with the _Vetara_ first, as they would both approach Yammja from a similar direction.

* * *

Val and the princess stood in the cavernous cargo bay two. This, of course, was the site of their first argument. But it was also a room large enough for their needs. Along with the princess, 2 of her stewardesses, her advisor, and 3 bodyguards joined her.

"Is there a reason you decided to torture me specifically with this?" asked Val.

"I needed to practice dancing with a partner," said the princess.

"Why am I the only person practice with?"

"You can dance. I've asked a few of the MARCOs. The consistent answer is that as an officer of Starfleet, you are expected to be a gentleman and be capable of attending officers' balls and other formal government functions. You were probably taught to dance at the academy, if you hadn't already known."

"I'm sure some of your high ranking advisors dance as well."

The princess was reluctant in explaining her situation, but she knew Val would keep asking.

"My advisors are not allowed to touch me. Neither are my bodyguards."

"What if you fall down or something? They can't help you up?"

"No. At least, not the males. My maidens may. And I will surely have at least one or two female advisors by the time I am installed as the ruler of Yammja."

"Then dance with one of your maidens," said Val.

"Will you just shut up and dance with me already?" said the princess.

"Fine."

The two of them got closer together and the princess placed her right hand into Val's left. It was slightly awkward as the two of them got closer. The princess placed her left hand on Val's shoulder, and Val placed his right hand on her back.

The two of them just held their pose for a few seconds and stared at each other.

"Well?" said the princess.

"Well what?" said Val.

"Start dancing," said the princess.

"I don't know how to dance," said a confused Val.

"Yes, you _do_," said the princess.

"I mean. I can. But I don't know how to Krowtonan dance, you know what I mean?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, different ethnicities, or different alien races, dance in different ways. I don't know how you dance."

"We all dance the same way," said the princess. "The Krowtonan have never met any alien race which do not dance the way we do. Just dance how you normally would, and I'm sure it will be sufficiently similar to how I've learned."

"Okay, fine."

The two of them stopped talking but once again stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Well?" said the princess, getting a little impatient.

"Shouldn't there be music or something?" asked Val.

"Your sergeant told me that you could provide the music. Through your ship's computer."

"Right."

Val requested the ship play a slow song. The song started to play, but the two of them still stood there.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" asked the princess.

"Are you ready?" asked Val.

"Whenever you are." She was waiting for him to lead.

Val had decided that the waltz would be the simplest dance to deal with, and probably the easiest for the princess to follow even if she were not entirely familiar with it to begin with. To Val's surprise, it appeared that the princess did indeed know how to waltz. It felt a little bit weird at first, but after less than a minute, the two of them were comfortable with each other.

"So, I still don't understand, why are you allowed to dance with me but not any other males?"

"It is not any other males. Only people of the upper echelon are allowed to touch me."

"You mean royalty?"

"Nobility. Although you are a mere baron, you are the only nobleman onboard. This is why you were the only person I could choose."

Val was actually quite impressed with how gracefully his dance partner moved. In the beginning, he had wondered whether it would matter that her knees bent backward, the other way compared to basically every other alien species he had ever met. It made him start wondering why every species in the Alpha and Beta quadrants had such similar leg structures to humans.

After a few more minutes of dancing, Val asked "By the way, I meant to ask, what's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yea. What do your people call you?"

"Either the First Princess of Yammja, or Your Royal Highness. As you should." She did not say it in a condescending way.

"Well, you're free to call me Val if you'd like."

"You are the Baron Vetara and I shall refer to you as such," said the princess.

Val chuckled. "That's perfectly fine."

"Do you always talk so much when you dance?" asked the princess.

"I don't know," said Val truthfully. "I mean, I think it's normal for people to talk once in a while during their dance."

"I see."

Val took it as a cue from the princess that she didn't want to talk, so he decided to remain quiet. The two of them danced for two more songs and the music stopped. The sequence Val had requested from the computer only lasted for 4 songs. The two of them danced for a few seconds after the music ended, and then they slowly trailed off and came to a halt.

"Well, princess. It appeared you didn't need any practice at all."

"I had fun," she said, and then smiled. It was the first smile Val saw on her ever since the two of them met. He smiled back.

"It has been over 20 years since I first learned how," she said. "From my father, when I was five. I have never had any occasion to dance. I am hoping I will not look too foolish at my coronation ball."

"I think you'll look perfectly elegant," said Val.

The two of them finally let go of each other's hands and parted.

Val started to walk towards the cargo bay exit.

"Val," said the princess. "Thank you."

"I thought you were going to stick with Baron Vetara," said Val teasingly.

"I should."

"Call me whatever you're comfortable with."

Val started to walk toward the exit again.

"Val?" said the princess.

"What's up?"

"Djeena. My parents called me Djeena when I was young."

"That's a cute name."

"Maybe we could have one last dance later, before you deliver me to my palace."

"Sure."

Val nodded and then headed off to the bridge.

* * *

"It is good to see you again, captain," said Pow Beeshar. The _Yond_ had just met up with the _Vetara_ about thirty minutes prior, and Beeshar beamed aboard with a couple of his senior officers.

Pow Beeshar, Shi Flin, and Captain Val Shin set up in the Vetara's conference room, where Beeshar updated Flin about the situation on Yammja. Val would be the on-scene commander at Yammja until Admiral Burke arrived. As the unrest on the Southern continent proved to be sustained, the Emperor himself ordered two of his auxiliary ships into the system as well. They would arrive a few hours after the Solstice would.

"This looks like it could get a little messy," said Mah Tex. Mah was the Krowtonan rank roughly equivalent to ensign. Tex was the second-in-command of the _Yond_.

"I do not think the princess wishes to engage the rebels in conflict, especially during her coronation," said Flin.

"It is a shame that military prowess is usually not inherited as easily as land. Or title," said Pow Beeshar. Although he respected the royal family and had great loyalty to the Emperor, he sometimes resented the fact that royalty were born into such high positions and military authority without having to prove themselves in battle. It turned out that former King of Yammja was indeed a great military tactician. All evidence was to the contrary regarding any of his children.

"So the plan is to rout the rebel headquarters down in the southern capital? Before the princess is elevated to queen?" asked Val.

"We're waiting for the Admiral Maximus to arrive. The rebels may very well decide to surrender once they see the full force of the princess' support. It is what we predict will happen. It's the most logical outcome," said Beeshar.

Val wasn't sure what part of that sentence irked him more, the fact that Beeshar sounded a bit too Vulcan with the logical outcome snippet, or that Beeshar and others in the Krowtonan High Guard referred to Max as the Admiral Maximus. Though, the latter never seemed to bother him on prior occasions.

"I thought the Krowtonan referred to Admiral Burke as the Count of San Angeles?" asked Val.

"He hates being called that," said Beeshar. "Of course, when he attends the coronation banquet, he will be addressed with his full title and will be introduced as the Admiral Maximus Orwell Burke, Count of San Angeles. He prefers just his name though, but we're protocol bound to at least call him the Admiral Maximus."

"I've studied American history. Your nation-state was first formed after a rebellion against royalty," said Tex.

"Is that true?" asked Flin.

"Well, the nation-state no longer exists. But yes, I am from a region of Earth which used to be part of the nation you mention. It was first formed after declaring independence from a monarchy."

"The Admiral Maximus is from the same region as well," added Tex.

"I'm not sure. He's probably a Midwesterner."

"What are your feelings about the Krowtonan Empire," asked a curious Flin. "Do you support the rebels who are wishing to end it?"

"I guess I'm mixed. I realize there's some usefulness to a strong central authority, especially in times where there are external threats. But I do feel that some degree of autonomy is called for so that the common citizens can run some of the everyday aspects of their lives," said Val.

This new information piqued Flin's interest. He had always been loyal to the royal family and to the system of nobles. But Flin was born a commoner, and never completely felt like he belonged in the ruling classes. Right now, his immediate concern was whether Val would defect and join the rebellion. While a very small percentage, there were at least 3% of the Krowtonan High Guard who had already done so, including a number of lesser lords, and even a viscount.

"As the Admiral Maximus dislikes his noble title, you probably dislike yours as well," said Tex.

"I wouldn't say dislike. I'm just not accustomed to it. It's just not my style, that's all."

"I believe the Pows and Chars have always referred to you as the Captain Vallicent," said Beeshar. Char was the Krowtonan rank for colonel.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that either," said Val.

"I bet most of the lords in the Jang ranks refer to you as Baron Vetara, though," countered Tex. "Seeing as the vast majority of them are themselves of noble status." Jang was the Krowtonan grades of general and admirals.

"It doesn't matter, people can call me whatever they want," said Val.

"It _does_ matter," said Shi Flin. "The nobles see you as one of them. Even if you are from a race clear across the galaxy. Even if you earned your title through performance in battle and were born a commoner. For all her condescension towards you, her highness the First Princess views you as someone similar to her. Quite frankly, you seem to be the only person outside of her family she can even mildly tolerate. My question to you, m'lord, is that when the time comes, will be back the princess or will you feel sympathy for the rebels?"

"What are you asking of me?" said Val.

"When it comes time to install the Princess, will you support her? Will you help crush her opponents?" asked Flin.

"Whoa there. That's not what I'm here to do," said Val. "A ship was in distress and I was asked to deliver the passengers to their home planet. That's all I'll do. I can't take sides in a civil war, if that's what this is. Starfleet has strict regulations on this sort of thing."

"You've already taken sides!" insisted Shi Flin. "You are expected to be on our side!"

"Wait!" said Beeshar. He tried to remain calm but he was a little bit riled up by the people around him. "The Admiral Maximus made it clear that the Captain was in fact a neutral party and can decide to remain such. While the Admiral has pledged his allegiance to the Empire, Captain Shin has not. It is his choice how far he wishes to support the princess."

"This is preposterous. He has been given precedence in the High Guard. He has a duty to us," said Flin

"He has a duty to deliver the Princess to Yammja. At that point, his duty ends. He will be released from serving the Emperor. That was the deal and we will abide by it," said Beeshar in the most respectful tone he could muster. "Remember that Captain Shin did not have to agree to rescue you in the first place. He did not want to get involved in a brewing civil war, and we made a promise to him that his ship wouldn't be dragged into this. When the command ship _Solstice_ arrives with the frigate _Sullis_, the three of our ships will be more than enough to suppress the rebellion. Not to mention the two orbital artillery ships that are scheduled to reinforce us in a matter of weeks time."

Flin reluctantly restrained from counter-arguing.

"Captain, you have said your orders do not allow you to be involved in alien civil wars. Am I correct in presuming you will also not be interfering on behalf of the rebels?" inquired Beeshar.

"I will not."

"That is all the Empire asks of you," said Beeshar.

"I must ask, though. Is there no middle ground for negotiating? Surely the Princess and the rebel commanders can reach some sort of arrangement?"

"That is up for the Empire to decide. As you are not part of it, you have no say. Sorry, Captain."

"No, I understand. That's your internal operations."

The meeting was more tense than Beeshar had hoped. It ended with Flin saying he would discuss the status of the rebellion with the princess.

Once Flin left the conference room, Beeshar once again expressed his gratitude to Val.

"Thank you for rescuing the Princess," said Beeshar. "Her coronation is in four days time. Let's hope everything goes smoothly."

Val nodded, and Beeshar left the conference room with Tex in tow.

"Whaddya think?" asked Val, a little weary.

"I think we're getting ourselves into one fine mess," said Staff Sergeant Driver. "But at least it'll be interesting."


	7. Chapter 7 In the Dark

Posted June 5, 2011

Chapter 7

In the Dark

Today is Alejandro Rodiguez's birthday. Today _was_ Alejandro's birthday. He would have turned 25 today, if he weren't killed in action while defending a Federation supply convoy from a maquis attack.

Leticia Rodriguez stared out into space from the _U.S.S. Excalibur_. She missed her sons a great deal. Alex's younger brother, Lorenzo, had been missing for several months and presumed dead. She had wanted peaceful lives for her children. But all four of them followed in their father's footsteps and wore a uniform.

As a representative in the Federation Council, she pulled every string imaginable to get her children posted in the safest units of Starfleet, the MARCO Corps, or the Crime Investigation Division. But her children wouldn't have it.

Today, the _Excalibur_ made a visit to Earth. Onboard was Rear Admiral Jonas Locklear, the deputy director of Starfleet Intelligence. He and Leticia had been friendly for many years, as she was the ranking member of the Council's Select Intelligence Committee.

Admiral Locklear entered the conference room and Leticia turned around towards the door.

"Admiral, nice to see you again," she said.

"It's my pleasure," he said. They shook hands. "Please, have a seat."

The two of them sat down and continued some small talk.

"Letty, as usual, I must stress that the information you are about to hear is highly classified and cannot be repeated to anyone."

"Of course, Jonas."

"Three days ago, my office received a communication from the Romulan Government. In the year 2351, almost 21 years ago, a science ship from the Romulan Astrophysical Academy received a message through a wormhole. The science ship proceeded to investigate the message. It turns out that the message came from the future. At least, it came from the scientist's future, the year 2371. Last year.

The rest of this gets a little unclear. According to a letter from the scientist onboard the Romulan ship _Talvath_, they contacted a Federation starship. The lead scientist was beamed over to the other ship through the wormhole. He toured the Federation starship, met with several of its officers, and carried back two isolinear chips with messages from the ship's crew to their families. He had promised to send these chips to Starfleet on a Stardate that passed a few months ago."

"A few months ago?" asked Leticia. "Why the delay in sending?"

"Dr. R'Mor had passed away in the year 2367, a few years back. He had left the isolinear chips with a friend, who hadn't remembered to send the messages until last week."

"Is this information that should be disclosed to the rest of the committee?"

"No. At least, not yet. We're still verifying the veracity of this situation. After viewing the message that Dr. Telek R'Mor recorded explaining what had happened, Federation scientists had some doubts about whether it was true. They couldn't confirm that it would be possible to be beamed through a wormhole, to a different timeframe no less. The isolinear chips themselves are of Federation design, but those could be acquired relatively easily. We scanned for the data in the chips, but both chips had been severely corrupted and very little usable information could be pulled out. In fact, one of the chips was completely useless, and the other was over 99% degraded."

"So… do you want to end the suspense and tell me what the remainder contained?"

"Over half of the datastream we were able to extract was a 30 second video message, from your son, Lorenzo."

Leticia Rodriguez choked up a little bit. She wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"Would you like me to play it?" asked Admiral Locklear.

After a couple of seconds of thought, Leticia Rodriguez said "Please, admiral."

A video screen popped up to life, and the face of Corporal Lorenzo Rodriguez filled it almost entirely. It started playing.

"Hi Mom and Dad," said a cheerful and smiling Lorenzo.

The video panned out and showed the young corporal in his combat fatigues, from the waist up. It appeared that he had been holding an image recorder in his own hand and flipped it to film himself.

"So, it has been two weeks since we moved over to the Cardassian ship here. It's been an adjustment but I think we're happier here."

Lorenzo panned the camera around to show his parents his quarters.

"This is my bunk," he said as he filmed it. "And that's Lucas' bunk."

Lorenzo kept talking as he filmed the rest of his living area. He shared his sleeping quarters with one MARCO, Lucas van der Hoeven. The two of them shared a common room for cooking, dining, and just sitting and relaxing, with four other MARCOs, whose sleeping quarters adjoined the common room from the opposite side. At one point, he went back to filming himself flexing a bicep, to show that he was still strong and healthy.

"Anyway, I've gotta make this short," said Lorenzo. "Captain Shin's trying to compress all of our messages into a tiny databurst. It was great that Paris offered to send some of our messages along with his ship's. I'm doing well. Plenty of excitement. I love you both."

The screen blinked off.

"This was recorded twenty years ago?" asked Leticia.

"Yes. And no. Stardate timestamp in microprint on the video image says it was roughly three months after _Voyager_ went missing."

"But he wasn't on _Voyager_?"

"Unclear. At the time of that video, it appears he was not."

Leticia Rodriguez was not sure what to think. She was overjoyed that Lorenzo might still be alive.

* * *

"Who the hell is Captain Shin?" asked an angry Brigadier General Daniel Rostovsky, in a low and slow voice.

His aide-de-camp passed the general a padd with a personnel file and an image. Starfleet Intelligence had thought it proper to share the video with the brigade commander of the missing MARCO troopers. The thought of a squid having taken command of his troopers irritated him greatly.

"Val Shin," said the aide. "Starfleet JAG Corps; on t.a.d. to the _U.S.S. Voyager_ as fugitive retrieval oversight officer."

The general had just watched Corporal Rodriguez's video. Rostovsky skimmed through the file. The billet history was full of ordinary run-of-mill desk positions, and occasional temporary assigned duty in the field. Nothing spectacular. But then, he saw two glaring aberrations. One large portion of the file was a blank space, with the words [Classified – Redacted]. There was a similar redaction at another place, but a much smaller one, probably the length of two sentences.

"Starfleet Meritorious Flying Cross?" asked the general, intrigued.

"Yea, he apparently took flight training back in the academy. He was pretty good, according to his flight instructors."

"Why isn't he a pilot?" asked the general.

"Seems it was just bad luck or bad timing. He was good, others were better. Starfleet only has so many billets for pilots, and his class happened to have been loaded with a bunch of natural talent. He was cut from the program during the final round."

Next up, his aide played for him a ten second video snippet that had its ends corrupted.

"aptin Shin is clever, for a squid. I think he'll get us home," came the voice of a female MARCO. General Rostovsky surmised the letter "c" had been cut of from the first word. The video didn't show the female's face, but it was filming as she was walking down a corridor. "Most of the time, I'm posted at engineering. I'm not allowed to vid the inside, but here's our engineer," she said.

The video showed a Cardassian female from several feet away, who tried to smile, and waved hello. The video then panned past a blur of a couple of people in MARCO uniforms, and then the video cut off.

* * *

Seymour Chandler hadn't been this excited for years. He had just started researching into the disappearance of the elder brother of one of her old friends. Whitford Shin had contacted him a couple of days ago and asked him to look into the possibility that Whitford's brother Val had been sent to the Gamma Quadrant a few months prior to the joint Romulan-Cardassian assault in Omarion Nebula. He was also asked to see whether there was ever a Cardassian Hideki-class scout ship named either the Kejal or the Vetara.

The deeper Chandler got into the mystery, the more excited he got. In fact, there was a Cardassian ship called the _Vetara_. It was a Galor class battleship and was a prototype for unmanned missions into the Gamma Quadrant. The official records listed the ship as missing in action, having disappeared before it reached the Bajoran wormhole. A likely ruse, in Chandler's opinion.

"Do we have any shots of _Voyager_?" asked Elizabeth Decker.

"No ma'am," said her colleague, an image analyst.

Decker greatly enjoyed puzzles. This morning, she had a file dropped onto her desk. She was specially requested to analyze a gaggle of seemingly incoherent data and try to make sense of it.

To the outside world, Decker was a meteorological analyst, figuring out weather patterns. But in reality, she worked as an intel analyst for the Bureau. Typically, she was assigned to matters of wider importance to Federation security. However, her current case was something that was of strong interest to her supervisor.

Carl Midori and Owen Paris had been friends since their days as young lieutenants onboard a deep exploration ship. Midori was a security officer and Paris was a science officer. The two of them got along very well. Paris used to joke around with Midori when he found out Midori had resigned from Starfleet.

"What could you possibly transition to that could be as exciting and meaningful as Starfleet?" teased Paris. If only Paris knew. Midori wasn't completely sure whether Paris even believed that the Bureau existed. Paris once made a comment about how he wondered whether the mysterious Section 31 had non-human operatives. In all the myths about the clandestine organization, all of the operators were humans. Midori couldn't tell if Paris was just entertaining a fictional hypothetical.

After examining both videos, there was only one single indication the isolinear chips involved the _U.S.S. Voyager_. That was the brief mention of Lieutenant Tom Paris at the end of Rodriguez's video.

"I've gone frame by frame for the two vids," said Smithfield, the image analyst. "It's a total of 37 seconds; 28 for the first one and a little over 9 for the second. We've done voice analysis of every person heard in the vids. We've identified Corporal Lorenzo Rodriguez and Private Caitlyn Evans as the filmmakers. Background conversations came up with Corporal Samantha Logan and Private First Class Hugh McCarter in Rodriguez's common room. Mentioned in both vids is Val Shin, who is seemingly the ship's captain. Mentioned in Rodriguez's are Staff Sergeant Nathan Driver and Paris. Shown in Evans' vid is a female Cardassian engineer. Every interior aspect conforms to a Cardassian vessel."

"What are they doing onboard a Cardassian vessel?" asked Decker.

"That's for you to find out, ma'am," said Smithfield.

* * *

Val sat on his couch and read through the information on his padd. Pow Beeshar and the _Yond_ had recently joined the _Vetara_ in flight formation, and soon, Pow Dergo and the _Sullis_ would rendezvous. Both pows deferred to Val as if he had been a fleet commander for years. It was striking. And although Val was nervous, he played the part well. Strangely enough, the first time he ever learned to take charge had been a very similar situation, when he was unexpectedly handed command.

After washing out of flight training, Val had decided he would go to law school. He found law school to be a good fit for him. But even while a student, he was still a commissioned ensign in the Starfleet Reserves. He had the choice of serving one weekend a month throughout the year, or a continuous month out of the year, and having the rest of the year free. Since he had summers off from law school, he decided on the second option.

After Val's first year exams at law school, he was contacted by an acquaintance named Robert Carlino. Robert graduated one year ahead of Val at Starfleet Academy and went off into a Fleet post directly after graduation. As a member of red squad, Robert had a pretty prestigious first post and after a year and a half, was soon promoted. By the time of Val's summer after his first year of law school, Robert commanded a small tugboat.

"Mr. Shin, what are you doing this summer?" asked Robert. Although none of Val's friends called him 'Mr. Shin' and almost all of Robert's friends called him Bobby, the two of them met in an advanced mathematics class at the academy where the instructor insisted that all the students refer to each other by formal names. While Val was able to slowly transition to calling Robert 'Rob' later on, Robert stuck with calling Val 'Mr. Shin.'

"Eh, just boring law stuff," said Val. "About to return to San Francisco and for a summer associate posting at the Academy. It'll be fun times."

Robert chuckled. He knew how much Val hated desk jobs. The only reason Val tolerated the whole desk aspect of being a lawyer was because he very much wanted to be in court. Val would be willing to do a hundred hours worth of paperwork for every one hour in court.

"Come join me on the _Resourceful_," said Robert. "I'll make you my science officer." The _Resourceful_ was sometimes referred to as a combat tug. It was very small, but relatively powerful. It was capable of pulling a galaxy-class sized starship. In times of conflict, combat tugs were used in fleet formations to pull heavily damaged starships out of harm's way and back to the rear of the formations.

"Ha," laughed Val. He knew that there was no need for a science officer onboard a tug. In fact, the tug could theoretically be operated by one person alone.

"You'd rather spend three months back at the Academy sitting behind a desk?" asked Robert. He knew Val would say no.

"You know, law students fight fiercely for these summer positions," said Val.

"You'll have plenty of time to sit behind a desk _after_ you graduate from law school next year," said Robert. "It's not like you even need this summer position on your resume, you're already tapped for JAG after graduating!"

Robert was right, Val didn't need the resume builder. Val had always felt it unnecessary for law school to be a full two years. To think, back in the 21st century, law school used to be three years! Thankfully, it was shortened to two. But Val thought it could be feasibly done in one. The two year model was kept so that the students could have summer positions between their first and second year. It was basically one long job interview where the employers saw if the student would fit in.

And plus, Val would probably enjoy a little time out among the stars. Many law students split their summers so that they could work half of the summer for one firm or agency, and the second half with another. Val decided he would do that and spend his second half with his old friend.

"Sound agreeable to you?" asked Val.

"Sounds perfect," said Robert. "You'll report to me in a month."

"Aye, aye," said Val.

They both laughed and the comm channel closed.

* * *

(Still in the past)

"You'll leave the ship rudderless," said Val.

"Nope. You're the new 'rudder,' Mr. Shin," said Robert.

Lieutenant Robert Carlino had only commanded the _Resourceful_ for three months, and he was on the verge of being promoted once again.

"Wow, you red squad guys really fly up the ladder. Third Captain?"

"No, I'm staying as a lieutenant," said Robert.

Starfleet had a very strange rank structure which evolved throughout the decades. At the beginning, there were four main field ranks: ensign, lieutenant, commander, and captain. Once Earth Starfleet started interacting with more alien species, it became confusing to other species why a commander would be outranked by a captain, especially in some militaries where the reverse was true. Starfleet converted the rank commander to vice captain. Aside from the four main ranks, there were two rare ranks which were referred to as "half ranks." In between ensign and lieutenant was a rarely used rank junior lieutenant. This was only used for doctors and lawyers, who would start out their careers as junior lieutenants instead of ensigns. They would be quickly promoted to full lieutenant. The other even more rare rank was one between lieutenant and vice captain, sometimes called third captain. This was used only on Starfleet flagships with a large enough crew that there needed to be a way to differentiate the third in command officer from all of the other lieutenants.

Robert was being promoted to third in command of the _U.S.S. Vigilant_, one of the Fleet's three flagships. He shot up the ranks pretty fast. Usually, a typical officer progression would take at least 5 years to jump from ensign to lieutenant, and another 10 to jump from lieutenant to vice captain. In the rare occurrence of third captain, one was usually a lieutenant for at least 7 years. Here, Robert was about two years out of the Academy and would soon move into a position that would normally require twelve years of experience.

"The _Resourceful_ was really just a temporary 'in the meantime' assignment," said Robert. He had been tapped for the third-in-command slot on the _Vigilant_ a while back, but the ship had unforeseen construction delays after Robert had already transferred out of his first post.

"All I have to do is take this boat back to Earth and then I'm fine, right?" asked Val.

"Right. Just keep her in one piece."

Val had been flipping out the entire day since Robert told him the news, but he was starting to calm down a little bit.

"You'll do fine. You know how to pilot the boat. Hell, you've piloted more complicated systems during flight training."

"This feels like some kind of conspiracy, to get me here to relieve you," said Val.

Robert chuckled. "Well, my original plan was to get you some flying experience. Didn't think it was fair that you washed out of flight training like that. But the timing worked out so you get to have some command experience as well. After all, that's the division you're in," said Robert as he poked at the red part of Val's uniform, on his chest.

Although Val was nervous for himself, he was happy for his old friend. Val wished him good luck.

"All right, Mr. Shin," said Robert as he was about to be beamed onto the _Vigilant_. He tapped Val on the shoulder. "Tag. You're it." Then Robert beamed away.

Val was only acting/interim pilot of the _Resourceful_ for one and a half weeks. He felt like it was a pretty easy job. Senior Chief Wainwright, the flight engineer, was of great help. There was only one incident during the return trip to Earth, a glitch with the tractor beam emitters.

Once they reached Earth, Val thanked both Wainwright and Petty Officer Mitena Haro, a Bolian, for their help in running the boat. Although Val had dealt with more sophisticated piloting systems during flight training, he had never been in charge of a crew. He flew with a co-pilot or any other support officer.

Wainwright told Val he would have made a good line officer, especially since he was willing to help the two engineers during the tractor beam glitch. Most pilots would have simply let the engineers work on that themselves. The senior chief wished Val the best of luck in the JAG corps.

* * *

"Staff Sergeant Driver, do you mind if I speak with you?" asked the princess, who was accompanied by her advisor Flin.

"Sure, please have a seat," said Driver. He was eating his lunch at the mess hall with one of his corporals. The corporal got up to let Driver have a private conversation.

"Shi Flin informed me earlier that both you and your captain may have some doubts about the military operations on my planet, is this true?"

"I can't speak for the captain, but I guess I do. It's really none of my business though, highness."

"Please, I would like to understand both you and your captain better. I have sat in on videoconference with your captain and the Admiral Maximus and their behavior leads me to believe that they will prevail in my name. Do you not believe so?"

"I don't know," said Driver.

During the videoconference, Val, Max, Beeshar, Dergo, Sardu, and a few others had discussed the situation on Yammja. Char Sardu was visibly elated that soon the shoe would be on the other foot and that the Krowtonan Empire's forces would mass and overpower the rebels.

"The rebels will surrender," insisted Sardu.

"No doubt, they cannot surmount our forces," said Dergo.

Val was the only one who had been reluctant to declare victory.

"I don't know about this, Max" said Val. Although Max Burke was technically an admiral, Max and Val had a friendly relationship where they both called each other by their first names. "I do not think they will surrender."

Max appeared to agree. "Would you, Val?" he asked. "Would I?"

The rhetorical question was not answered. Mah Tex later explained to the Krowtonan pows that by personality, Max and Val would not surrender even if presented with a superior opponent. It was a part of human behavior that was both a weakness and a strength.

But Max was not phased. Although he knew the rebels would not surrender, he also knew the Krowtonan forces would prevail.

"The Admiral Maximus appears to believe we will win. And easily," said Flin.

"That's the problem with the Fleet boys," said Driver. He wanted to be respectful to the Starfleet officers, but his disdain for the fleet came loose. "They don't understand what it takes to win in a situation like this."

"Please explain," requested the princess.

"Fleet always thinks people can be persuaded with orbital bombardments. In reality, very few objectives can be achieved that way. The bombardments are all fine and good if you want to blast a planet into dust. Or if you're engaging in ship to ship combat. But if you're looking to hold onto territory, or to liberate a territory, you need boots on the ground. You need people like me. Your combined forces simply do not have the manpower for this. Air cover is an essential element of winning a battle. But it can't win the battle by itself."

The princess left the conversation with a new view on things. She didn't want to have a raging ground war with the rebels. At the same time, she didn't want the orbital bombardments to turn her planet's southern continent into a wasteland.

* * *

Corporal Samantha Logan had been somewhat excited for the princess' coronation. The Captain reviewed her MARCO personnel file and discovered that the main reason she joined the MARCO Corps. was to protect high profile individuals. He wondered why she didn't join the secret service. Logan was assigned to be the princess' "shadow." In addition to the princess' regular detail of Krowtonan security, Val had decided to add a couple of MARCOs.

Val also took the time to study the layout of the palace where she would be coronated. He was relieved that the princess was looking to make peace with the rebels and had already reached out to some of their leaders. He was optimistic that the situation would improve and things would go smoothly. But if there were still security threats, he wanted to be prepared. His friend Aaron once said "Most battles are won before they are fought."

In fact, it almost appeared as if Val was more nervous about the coronation than the Princess herself.

* * *

"You know what they're calling you now?" said Ensign Marlena Gilmore, with a slight smile on her face.

"What?" said Burke, a little puzzled, but still mildly amused.

"Maximus the merciful," said Gilmore, chuckling.

Burke cringed at that thought. Just minutes before he was going to give the order to fire on rebel positions, he had been convinced by Val that the princess wished to open a dialogue with some of the rebel leaders. They would halt the rebellion and commence a path toward normalcy and stay within the royal system and in return, the princess would introduce some constitution reforms which would give common citizens some basic rights. Most of the rebel leaders appeared to be in favor of such compromise and were willing to negotiate the details of transitioning to a constitutional monarchy. The princess appointed Val as her legal reforms advisor.

However, not all of the rebels were convinced. Some were wavering. Burke gave them a deadline. They had to decide by nightfall whether they would engage in negotiations, or the ships in orbit would commence bombardment on the rebels as planned, starting with the heaviest ground formations.

"Even out in the middle of nowhere, halfway across the galaxy, Val Shin is at his core a law geek," said Burke. "Unbelievable."

* * *

Dawn arrived, with no word from the rebels. Then, a Krowtonan military intelligence officer reported to Burke.

"The rebellion has been split apart and the civilian leaders have been jailed. The army officers have taken up leadership and are steadfastly rejecting any negotiations with the royal family. They are determined to rule the Southern continent."

"Great," said Burke.

"It appears that the southerners have traded one perceived tyrant for another more real and closer to home."

"Ten minutes until your deadline, sir," said Captain Riker. "Ensign Sito, please move us into position."

"Aye, sir," said the Bajoran ensign. "30 seconds to station."

Burke nodded to his communications officer, who opened a channel fleetwide.

"Indigo," said Burke. It was his command word for moving the ships into position. The _Yond_ and the _Sullis_ both acknowledged and starting moving.

Previous strikes against the rebels had taken out the electric grid. It would be near total darkness and the rebels would never see what hit them until it was too late.


	8. Chapter 8 In the Stars

Chapter title: (Written) In the Stars

Posted: August 2nd, 2011

* * *

"I don't know," said a confused Vance Larkin.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" yelled the angry Chief Myles Duncan.

Vance Larkin was the planet's first ever interplanetary affairs minister. To Chief Duncan's chagrin, Larkin had authority over the army.

"Such a situation has never been contemplated!" insisted Larkin.

"Well, you better start contemplating, poindexter," said Duncan.

Ambassador Rudolph Ransom stepped in between the two shouting men.

"Stop it. Now," said Ransom, mostly directed at Chief Duncan. He knew Duncan would have a somewhat higher level of respect for him since he used to be a uniformed officer.

Evansworld was about to experience its first confrontation with a hostile alien force. Prior to his current post, Larkin was a sociologist who studied alien cultures. Duncan was the planet's highest ranking uniformed military officer.

John Evans sat in his giant fluffy chair in the middle of the Executive Oval Office. He didn't want to surrender his planet, but he also didn't want to see it destroyed. After all the hard work that his ancestors had put into overthrowing their Briori kidnappers and oppressors, Evans wondered why they destroyed Briori technology. It would have certainly been useful.

After a few minutes in deep thought, Larkin had his "Eureka!" moment.

"SD-6!" he yelled.

"What's SD6?" asked Duncan.

Evans was also not completely sure what Larkin was referring to.

"SD-6 was a military training program thought up by the Krowtonan High Guard. It was an officer exchange program where we could embed our officers in the High Guard Fleet to learn how they operate."

"How does that help us?" asked Chief Duncan. "That program never got off the ground! Evans thought it would be too provocative to ally ourselves with the Krowtonan Empire. It would make their enemies our enemies too, you said. Look where we are now!"

Evans didn't appreciate the Army Chief's tone. He made a mental note to demote the jerk the first chance he could get.

"The Krowtonan delivered six fighter craft to us and had planned to train our pilots on them. Although the training program was cancelled, we still have the jets."

"Six fighter jets?" yelled Duncan incredulously.

"It's all we have. It's better than nothing!" retorted Larkin.

"We don't have the pilots. We were never trained," said Duncan.

"We have at least four, it'll have to do," said Larkin.

"Hopefully, it'll buy us a little bit more time until reinforcements can arrive?" said Evans.

"Are we getting reinforcements?" asked Duncan. He had been notified that no assistance from the Krowtonan Empire would be forthcoming, as their forces were tied up dealing with rebellions sprouting up throughout the Empire.

"You better pray that we do," said Evans.

* * *

"Loco is airborne," came a young male voice on the speaker.

Evans, Larkin, Duncan, Ransom, and several others were gathered in the President's situation room and listening intently.

"Crash, right behind him," came another voice, two seconds later.

"Cowgirl, wheels up," came the voice of a young female.

"Fozzie Bear, joining formation."

"That's it. The four of them should reach lower planetary orbit in a few seconds," said Commodore Barry McKnight, the leader of Evansworld's Navy.

"Where are the Kazon?" asked Evans.

"Five minutes out," said Chief Duncan.

* * *

Principal Maje Jal Haliz listened intently as one of his warriors explained the unfolding situation.

"Four Krowtonan interceptors have just launched and are heading toward the scouting squadron."

After having lost multiple battles to Admiral Maximus Burke and the Krowtonan, Haliz was eager to strike at a soft target. He knew that although Evansworld was not a part of the Krowtonan Empire, a strike against a human populated planet would be of great importance on a symbolic and personal level. Haliz was surprised Burke would leave the planet undefended. With the four interceptors in the mix, perhaps Burke wasn't completely derelict after all. However, Haliz's carrier ship could quickly dispatch the tiny defenders. His carrier ship would reach Evansworld within the hour. He had sent a scouting patrol to test the planet's defenses. If four interceptors were all the planet could muster, Haliz would have the last laugh indeed.

"Let's have a little fun with this," said an intrigued Haliz. He ordered four of his own raiders to face off with the defenders, one on one.

* * *

"Flight leader, Viper actual. You have twelve bandits, dead ahead. You are clear to engage," said Commodore McKnight.

"Twelve bandits, tally-ho," said Loco. Tally ho meant that Loco had spotted the enemy aircraft.

"Cowgirl, you're with me. Crash, hang back," said Loco.

"Holding station," said Crash.

"At your wing," said Cowgirl.

Loco's interceptor kicked up its afterburners and bolted forward, along with Cowgirl's interceptor behind him, to the right.

"Let's say hello," said Loco.

* * *

"The Trabe have declined our request for assistance," said Ginny, Larkin's deputy.

Vance Larkin had been wearing a headset, but ripped it off and threw it at the table in disgust. That was it. Evansworld would have to surrender once the Kazon mothership arrived in roughly 15 minutes.

"Should I recall the Krowtonan interceptors?" she asked.

"Please do," said a defeated Larkin.

* * *

"Nova flight, Viper control, you are requested to return to base."

The four pilots were a little surprised.

"Nova flight, Viper control, you are requested to return to base. Do you copy?"

Loco ignored the request. His three squadron members knew what to do. They'd defend the planet.

Vance Larkin was a little bit anxious. He jumped onto the communications channel.

"Nova flight, be advised, we will be receiving no reinforcements. If you shoot down any enemy spacecraft, it will draw more anger from the Kazon mothership when it arrives."

There was silence over the comm channel.

Larkin was about to attempt hailing the interceptors again, but Army Chief Duncan stopped him.

"They're soldiers. Let them go down fighting."

"There are side effects for us if that happens," said Larkin.

"We can self-destruct the interceptors," suggested Evans' chief of staff. "We have the codes."

"Those are our men up there!" said Larkin.

"If you want to stop them from shooting down Kazon spacecraft, that's the only option."

"No," insisted Duncan.

"Not a chance in hell," said Larkin.

For the first time, the two of them agreed on something.

The planet's top leadership sat idly by and listened to the comm traffic.

The spacecraft would soon approach firing range of each other. Six seconds. Five. Four.

"They're engaging," said Cowgirl.

"Come get me," said Loco. His interceptor jerked to his right and two Kazon craft followed.

* * *

Jal Karden was surprised at how adept these humans were at flight maneuvers. It was his understanding that the humans had been in peaceful relations with their immediate neighbors for over a century and had no military whatsoever to speak of. Ten seconds ago, he just watched the fourth Kazon fighter get effectively neutralized by the two forward Krowtonan defenders. He reported the situation to Maje Haliz, who was a little annoyed. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that the Kazon would eventually succeed. Haliz ordered the remaining eight Kazon to engage.

* * *

"Splash five," said Loco, triumphantly. Taken from old Earth navy slang, splash meant an enemy aircraft was shot down and "splashed" into the ocean. Loco had just taken out a fifth Kazon spacecraft. He shot down the first two, Cowgirl took down the next two, and now it was Loco's turn again.

"Alert interceptors, coming in hot," said Crash. He and Fozzie Bear were considered the backup team, on alert if they were needed. When he saw that the remaining eight Kazon flew in to engage, Crash thought he should even up the odds a bit.

Splashes six and seven came almost simultaneously as Crash and Bear immediately got into the mix.

"Single column!" ordered Loco. He was afraid that his interceptor craft were now in too chaotic of a formation and wanted to prevent friendly fire accidents. He ordered his squadron to line up on one side.

"Remaining five bandits are bugging out!" said an elated Cowgirl. Karden and his four surviving Kazon brethren knew when it was time to quit. He feared the reprimand he would soon get from the principal maje, but the odds were now against him.

* * *

Minister Larkin sat there contemplating the situation. While he was very happy that the planet survived the first wave of attackers, he knew that would only make the Kazon angrier when the mothership arrived.

"It appears we have a large ship arriving in system," said Ginny

"Kazon?" asked Larkin.

"No… Starfleet?" said an uncertain Ginny.

Ransom walked over to the operations area and peered onto the computer screen. The profile suggested it was the _U.S.S. Voyager_.

"We're saved!" exclaimed a relieved Evans.

"Hail them," requested Ransom.

"No response," said Ginny.

A few seconds later, the Kazon carrier ship dropped out of warp near the far side of the star system.

"Kazon carrier ship has launched a dozen fighter craft."

* * *

"_Voyager_," mumbled an incensed Maje Haliz. "How did we not detect them before?"

"I don't know," said his second maje. "Our sensors are still not picking up the ship. Perhaps some sort of upgraded stealth technology?"

"Recall the squadrons," said Haliz. He would have to accept defeat this day.

* * *

"Still no response from _Voyager_," said Ginny.

It had been over nine minutes since Larkin first tried to make contact. In the meantime, the battle scene seemed frozen in time. The Kazon fighters formed two rows of six in front of their mothership. Loco and his squadron held station in orbit. _Voyager_ seemed to slowly drift toward closer to the planet.

After five more minutes went by, the first row of Kazon fighters split into two "V" formations and flew towards _Voyager_.

"Permission to engage," said Loco.

"That's a negative," said Commodore McKnight. "_Voyager_ can handle herself. Don't let the first Kazon wave draw you away from the planet.

"Copy," said Loco.

Larkin wondered what the Kazon were up to. During Voyager's first encounter with the Kazon, Vice Captain Chakotay kamikaze'd his maquis raider into a Kazon carrier ship. Perhaps these Kazon were thinking of returning the favor.

As the lead Kazon approached _Voyager_, two of the fighters fired a few shots. To the Kazon pilots' surprise, _Voyager_ instantly turned into a cloud of metallic dust.

Everyone on Evansworld was horrified.

"What just happened?" asked a confused John Evans.

"I don't know, sir," said Ginny. Several other military analysts were pouring over the screens to figure out what just transpired.

"_Voyager_ is… gone," reported Ginny.

Larkin immediately jumped into action.

"Nova flight, you are to engage the Kazon carrier ship immediately. Bypass the row of fighters, take down that mothership."

"Understood," said Loco. The four interceptors roared at full speed. Loco knew what Larkin had just requested. This was going to be a suicide mission.

* * *

"Launch another ten," said Maje Haliz. There was no way he was going to allow the Krowtonan interceptors to make it past his fighter screens. He had just recalled the first wave back from the engagement with the now destroyed _Voyager_. With over sixteen fighters in between the Krowtonan and the mothership, and another six fighters closing in from the opposite side, the Krowtonan were bound to lose, no matter how skilled the pilots.

* * *

"They're blocked," reported Ginny. There was no use. Even if nova squadron could survive the encounter, they wouldn't be able to punch through the defensive perimeter.

"Wait… we've got another ship dropping out of FTL," reported Ginny. This was getting crazy. "It's dropping out right on top of the Kazon carrier ship!"

* * *

"Crap," said Val as his fingers flew over the flight control console. He was so distracted thinking about the weapons systems that he must've made a minor mistake somewhere in the navigator equations. Having punched in .896, he now realized it should've probably been closer to .893. That tiny few thousandths made a huge difference and the _Vetara_ was now on a path to sideswipe the Kazon carrier. Collision alarms rang noisily. Although the ships were still separated by millions of feet, at _Vetara_'s current inertial speed, there would be a collision in a mere 5 seconds.

"Too close to fire!" reported Staff Sergeant Driver.

"One problem at a time," replied Val. He was pushing the engines to the max to drastically change the ship's trajectory. Once the collision was avoided, he would then worry about distancing the _Vetara_ far enough from the Kazon ship in order to inflict damage without any collateral effects to the _Vetara_ herself.

* * *

"What is that?" asked Maje Haliz.

"Unknown ship just dropped out of warp," reported his sensor officer.

"Starfleet?" asked Haliz.

"No."

"Krowtonan?"

"No."

"Are they hostile?"

"Unknown. They are not firing. They seem to be backing away."

"Very well. Keep an eye on them. Focus on the Krowtonan interceptors."

This was a very confusing day for Maje Haliz. But at least it wasn't boring.

* * *

Val breathed a sigh of relief. Catastrophe averted.

"Kejal, please open a channel to the Kazon ship."

"Channel open."

"Kazon ship, you are requested to recall your squadrons and vacate this star system."

Maje Haliz's image soon appeared on the _Vetara_'s forward viewscreen. Haliz could see that Val was wearing a Starfleet uniform.

"You are one of Burke's officers? Or Janeway's?" asked Haliz.

"Neither. Consider me a freelance do-gooder. Now, I hope you have decided to comply with my request."

"Curse Starfleet. How many ships did they send to this side of the galaxy?"

"I suggest you leave while you still have the opportunity," said Val.

"How do I know this isn't a bluff? Perhaps I'll just have to destroy you like I did _Voyager_ just a minute ago."

"_Voyager_ is several weeks away from this location," replied Val.

"Now I know you're lying. _Voyager_ was just here, and my fighters dispatched the ship with ease."

"I'll give you a few seconds to think deeply about what you just said and whether it makes any sense," said Val

"I think you're bluffing. Your ship does not have the adequate offensive capability and you're just hoping I'll run," said Haliz.

Val glanced over at Driver, who was sitting at the weapons officer's console.

"We have a firing solution," said Driver.

"Loose missiles," said Val.

"Loose missiles, aye."

Eight Krowtonan long-range cruise missiles were let loose from the _Vetara_'s torpedo tubes. Val had worried about the compatibility of the Krowtonan missiles with the Cardassian firing mechanisms, but they seemed to work just fine.

Val watched the screen as Maje Haliz was clearly knocked off balance during the impact.

"Their shields are down to 71 percent," reported Kejal.

"Ready for a second round of fun?" asked Val, addressing Haliz.

Although Haliz knew he could survive a few more barrages, and might even fight the _Vetara_ to a costly but eventual victory, he had no interest in continuing this battle for a mere symbolic victory. The people of Evansworld were of no threat to him. He made to decision to call his fighters back and soon withdrew from the star system.

* * *

Evans and his advisors celebrated their survival.

"Please convey my gratitude," Evans asked of Ambassador Ransom.

Ransom asked Ginny to open a channel to the _Vetara_.

"You arrived in the nick of time," said Ransom.

"The people of our planet are eternally grateful," added Minister Larkin.

"Happy to do it," said Val. "I'm just glad we weren't too late. We rushed over here as soon as possible. But in our computer generated predictions, we should've dropped out of warp at least twenty minutes after the Kazon were calculated to arrive."

"That sounds close," said Ransom. "We were lucky that _Voyager_ came in to buy us over 17 minutes. It is regretful they were destroyed in the process. Kazon must've got a lucky hit in."

"I don't understand," said Val. "I wasn't bluffing with the Kazon maje. _Voyager_ is many star systems from here."

"Oh," said Ransom. He kind of knew deep in his heart that Voyager shouldn't have been that easily dispatched. He would save the mystery for later.

"Regardless," said Minister Larkin, "please accept our planet's hospitality. We shall hold a great banquet in honor of your arrival."

Val didn't want a great banquet. However, he knew he would keep _Vetara_ in orbit for a little while longer until some type of reinforcements could arrive from the Krowtonan High Guard. The High Guard had recently won a few battles and a few ships would soon be available for reassignment. The situation in Yammja was also appearing to come to an end soon. Val hoped things would be okay by the time he could return the princess to her homeworld. In the rush to get to Evansworld, the princess had stayed onboard the _Vetara_. Val agreed to beam down onto the planet and meet with the planet's leadership.

* * *

"This is a pretty planet," said Djeena. "Does Earth look like this?"

"Some parts do, yes," replied Val.

The two of them landed planetside about five minutes ago and would soon enter the capital city. Three MARCO troopers accompanied them on the Cardassian shuttlecraft. Evansworld was a Class L planet with an atmosphere charged with trinimbic interference. That meant the _Vetara_'s transporters would not work.

It was a short drive from the shuttle landing port to the capital city. At the port, they were greeted by several officers of the Evansworld Army and Navy. Although Army Chief Duncan and Commodore McKnight were still busy at the Executive Mansion, they both sent their aides.

"Sir, welcome to Evansworld" said a young major as he saluted Val. A young lieutenant commander in a dark navy uniform did the same.

Val returned the salute and his party was escorted to an armored hover-limousine which usually carried high ranking government officials. Val's MARCO bodyguards were led to another car, ahead of the limousine in the motorcade.

Once Val and Djeena entered the limo, the army major shut the door behind them and walked over to another security vehicle that would be following behind the limo.

"Why do they do that?" asked Djeena.

"Do what?" asked Val.

"Put their hands to their face when they first speak with you. I've seen some of your MARCOs do that too. Even some of the Krowtonan officers."

"Oh, it's just a sign of respect. Comes from an old Earth tradition. It's called a hand salute."

"I respect you as well, Captain." Djeena mimicked a salute. "Was that correct?"

"Well… probably not. It's a military courtesy. Since you're not in the military, it might look a little awkward, though civilians have saluted me informally as well. But yea, it's also usually from a lower ranking person to a higher ranking person. So it might not make sense for you to."

"I've never seen you salute the Admiral Maximus."

"No, I don't suppose I ever have."

"You don't respect him?"

"I do. I just think it's a slightly arcane tradition. I don't mind it, but it's not something I do reflexively."

"I see," said Djeena.

* * *

"Welcome, Captain Shin," said Chief Executive John Evans, the leader of Evansworld.

"Thank you for having us," said Val.

"How was your tour of our city?" asked Evans.

"Very insightful," said Val.

It had been over three hours since Val first landed on the planet. After being driven to the capital city and meeting with Minister Larkin, Army Chief Duncan, and Ambassador Ransom, Val was taken through a tour of most of the planet's capital city. He was also offered a chance to tour two of the satellite cities the next day. While the capital city had a population of over 100,000, the surrounding area had another 50,000 people. There were roughly 20,000 others living in more rural outlying areas. The other cities were much smaller, but were located in different climes that others may have preferred. For now, it was getting dark. The visitors would have dinner and then turn in.

Evans then turned to Djeena.

"I would also like to extend a warm welcome to you," said Evans. He wasn't quite sure who she was. He surmised that she was a Krowtonan officer who was serving on the _Vetara_ for some reason.

Val thought it might be proper to introduce the two.

"Mr. Evans, this is Djeena, the First Princess of Yammja."

The two of them nodded to acknowledge each other.

"Evans. This world is named after you?" asked the princess.

"Not quite," said Evans. "It was named after one of my ancestors. Many generations ago."

"I see. And your family has ruled it for generations?"

"On and off. We've always been part of the majority coalition, I guess. There are a couple of other political dynasties."

"My understanding from Captain Shin was that your world operates on a rotation of rulers. Every eight years, a new ruler is chosen."

"That's correct. Eight or sixteen, depending on whether I get re-elected. I'm finishing up my seventh year in office in a couple of months."

"I brought the princess here to kind of get an up front glimpse at how a democratic society might look like. Her world may slowly be transitioning to one in the coming years," said Val.

Djeena was intrigued. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect of a democratic system. But here was a man whose ancestors founded the society. Clearly, there were chances for families to keep power for generations to come, even if it were not an automatic birthright.

Evans next introduced a young man wearing eyeglasses. Val hadn't seen such a thing in a very long time.

"This is Jarett Gronski," said Evans. "I now understand why you requested his presence. He is our planet's foremost expert on constitutional government and separation of powers."

Jarett and Val shook hands.

"I understand from Ambassador Ransom that you yourself are a trained attorney," said Gronski.

"That feels like a lifetime ago," said Val. "But yes, I am a prosecutor with Starfleet's JAG office."

The two of them spoke briefly about the dynamics of the Evansworld government.

* * *

After their dinner, Val and Djeena retired to their guest quarters in the Executive Mansion. Val's MARCO bodyguards were also assigned quarters in the mansion, but in another wing, where the aides tended to stay as opposed to the diplomats.

As the MARCOs were led down the hallway to the south wing, Sergeant Driver said "Behave yourself, young man."

"Young man?" asked Val. "Seems I recall you welcoming me to old age on my past birthday recently."

The two of them separated and followed their guides. Val was comfortable enough with the Evansworld secret service that he didn't feel in danger even without his MARCOs.

Val and Djeena were led to neighboring guest quarters, and their escorts left them.

"Have a good night, princess," said Val.

"Same to you, captain."

The two entered into their respective rooms. Val was very impressed. The furniture was very cushy. Much more luxurious than what he was used to on the _Vetara_. He walked over to the balcony and took in the view. From there, he could see about a third of the city, to the east.

After surveying the cityscape for a few minutes, Val brought out his EvansPad and started playing with it. He preferred its functionality to that of a Starfleet Padd. Perhaps it was only because it was new to him. The tablet computer's touch screen functioned very much like an Apple iPad from the early 21st century. It sensed motion from the touches that included swipes and even circular motions. Part of him wondered why the Starfleet Padds seemed so much more basic.

He used his EvansPad to review the distant settlements of the planet. There were two. One was on a tropical island. Population 25,000. It was called "Shin Hawaii." Val laughed at that for a second. The word "shin" was actually pronounced "sheen" in this case, as it was the Japanese word for "new." Val's last name was of Chinese ancestry, and instead was pronounced in a way that rhymed with "chin," or "win." But Val was still amused. The other resort town was far up in the north and in the mountains. The town was called Aspen. Val was interested in visiting that one. He had loved skiing when he was a teenager and during his early twenties. Life got a little too busy for him in the recent years, but he missed skiing a great deal.

As he studied the geographies of the resort towns, Val was startled when a door to his quarters opened. He thought about reaching for his personal weapon, but that proved unnecessary. It was Djeena from the neighboring quarters. Apparently, the two of them had adjoining rooms and the door between the two had been left unlocked by the previous occupants.

"A balcony, that's nice," said the princess as she walked across the giant room to where Val was standing.

"You don't have?" asked Val.

"No," she said, with a fake frown. In all other aspects, she was very happy with her room. These were the type of accommodations she was accustomed to, not the spartan type afforded her on the _Vetara_.

As both of them stared out into the sky, Djeena pondered how lucky she was to have been saved by the _Vetara_ when her royal yacht and escort ships were attacked. Not only did he save her life, but she believes he may also have saved her planet from self-destructing. Although still in the midst of a civil war, she believed the divisions would be healed once the parties agreed to a transition to constitutional monarchy. Of the nine original rebel factions, seven had already ceased fire and awaited negotiations. There were two holdouts, but Djeena thought they would be defeated by the Krowtonan Guard soon enough.

"I wonder how things would have turned out if you had not agreed to rescue my ship," said Djeena. "Or if you had not received the distress call from the people of Evansworld. I would not have ever learned of the concept of a constitution, or seen a planet successfully ruled by popularity contest."

"Well… I wouldn't call it a popularity contest," said Val.

"Still, my life would be very different were it not for these minor turns."

"Well, maybe it's just in the stars, then."

"In the stars?" asked Djeena.

"Written in the stars. You know, it's your destiny. Your fate. You were meant to deliver your people into a different type of society."

"Interesting…" said Djeena. "I would not have surmised that you were a person who believes in fate."

"Who knows?" said Val. "I probably believe in it to some degree. Doesn't mean you can just sit back and have things handed to you. But I think everyone has a destiny."

"What do you think your destiny is, Captain?"

"Don't know. But that's what makes it fun."

The two of them spoke for several more minutes and the princess retired to her room. Val walked with her over to the doorway between the two rooms. After she crossed back, he thought about locking the door, but decided that the princess would behave in a proper way and would not intrude on him overnight.

* * *

Staff Sergeant Driver and two of his troopers met Val in front of his quarters at 0800. The palace aides had delivered to him an iced caramel frappuccino earlier during breakfast. He was sipping it in a plastic cup through a straw.

"What is it with captains and their coffee?" asked Driver.

"Everyone loves coffee," said Val. "Anyway, legend has it Picard is more of a tea person."

Normally, Val didn't even drink coffee. He loved it, especially laced with vanilla or caramel, but he knew he should contain his sugar intake. He couldn't stand coffee without sugar, so he usually went without coffee.

Driver expressly forbade his troopers from drinking coffee. It sometimes made them jittery.

The princess was allowed to sleep in. Meanwhile, Val and his entourage were led to the palace's situation room where he would attend a morning briefing led by Commodore Barry McKnight.

As Val walked toward to entrance, two soldiers guarding the entryway stiffened up and saluted him. He returned the salute and walked into the room.

"Paris?" asked Val when he saw one of the occupants.

"They look very much alike, don't they?" said Ambassador Ransom. "Please allow me to introduce you guys."

"Captain Shin," said Ransom. "These are the four pilots who assisted us yesterday. The one who looks like Paris is Nicolas Locarno, callsign Loco. Next to him is Wesley Crusher, callsign Crash. That's Jean Hejar, callsign Cowgirl. And then Joshua Albert, callsign Fozzie Bear."

The four pilots each acknowledged Val as they were introduced. They were probably three or four years younger than Val. The four of them and Val talked for several minutes and they learned more about each other.

Locarno had been expelled from the Academy for convincing his flight demonstration team into performing a dangerous maneuver. Although the entire team was eager to do it, Locarno took the full responsibility and said nobody on the team wanted to do it and he coerced them into it. It was a shame, because Locarno was a good pilot, and was a mere two weeks from graduating. During a practice run, two of the demonstration craft collided. The pilots were able to beam out safely, but an official inquiry was held and the truth was eventually discovered.

Wesley Crusher had managed to stay in the Academy for one more year, but was soon discharged from Starfleet as well. He had disobeyed an order from Captain Picard while the _U.S.S. Enterprise_ was in the de-militarized zone between the Federation and Cardassia.

Both Jean Hejar and Josh Albert made it through the Academy and graduated as ensigns. They were joined by their fifth cadet teammate, Sito Jaxa. Ensign Sito had been assigned as the helm officer of the _U.S.S. Solstice_. During a visit to Deep Space Nine, the five former cadets got together for the first time since the Academy. Captain Ransom agreed to ferry Hejar and Albert back to their posts. Locarno and Crusher tagged along. Unfortunately, the _Solstice_ soon got whisked away to the Delta Quadrant.

Commodore McKnight soon walked in and started the briefing.

Everyone took a seat and the lieutenant commander who greeted Val at the shuttle landing pad a day earlier began the briefing.

Overnight, military intelligence figured out the mystery of the duplicate _Voyager_ which appeared to disappear into metallic dust. Because there was substantial atmospheric interference on Evansworld, communication attempts often were unsuccessful. It appeared the duplicate Voyager attempted to communicate, but the signal strength was not strong enough. However, the signal was picked up by two robot rovers on an Evansworld moon. That signal was eventually passed back to ground control.

Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim appeared on the briefing screen. They explained their story. Locarno agreed that there was some resemblance between him and _Voyager_'s helm officer. Actually, the two men on screen soon explained that they weren't the real Paris and Kim. They had taken on the names London and Kimball. A couple of months ago, _Voyager_ had landed on a planet designated as "demon class." The real Paris and Kim were sent to explore the planet. They found nothing of note, and eventually returned to _Voyager_. The starship then left, not knowing that there were mimetic life forms on the planet. These life forms were called "silverbloods" and had surreptitiously copied both Paris and Kim. In addition, the silverblood pool was also able to copy _Voyager_. At first, the duplicate Voyager was able to fly off the planet without any trouble and London and Kimball started exploring space. Soon, it was determined that their basic makeup was disintegrating. Even when they landed back on the demon planet, they couldn't stop the process. Finally, they decided to fly towards Evansworld and tell their story so that they would not be forgotten.

Val found that to be an interesting story. Thinking back to what Djeena said to him the night before, he wondered whether it was fate that Paris and Kim should have duplicates of them made so that those duplicates would coincidentally arrive at Evansworld just in time to stall the Kazon carrier ship until the _Vetara_ could arrive.

* * *

"From where?"

Max Burke had just been notified that surveillance intercepts indicated that the rebel factions on Yammja were expecting reinforcements.

"Not sure," reported the Krowtonan officer.

Suddenly, two of the seven Krowtonan ships orbiting Yammja broke away from their positions. One of them was a small courier ship, but the other was the artillery ship _Otin_. There were two Starfleet officers aboard that ship. Marleyna Gilmore was on that ship.

The _Otin_ had faked engine trouble and requested assistance from the _Solstice_. Now, it was entering Yammja's atmosphere and landing near the main rebel base camp.

"Sir," said Ensign Sito. "The _Otin_ is hailing us."

"On screen," said Captain Riker.

A Krowtonan officer came on screen, and addressed Riker.

"Please send your admiral my sincere apologies," said Pow Zergol.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked an irritated Burke, who walked into the camerashot.

"Admiral," said Zergol. "I had hoped it did not have to happen this way. However, I do not believe the Emperor of Krowtona is the rightful ruler of this planet. Nor is the First Princess of Yammja. While I also disagree with a military dictatorship, I am hopeful that after our planet breaks away from the Empire, we will eventually form a democracy."

"You can form one under the umbrella of the Empire," said Burke.

"No," insisted Zergol. "We shall no longer be ruled from afar."

"You dare defy me?" asked Burke.

"This is nothing personal, Admiral," insisted Zergol. "However, knowing you would take it as such, I made arrangements to request the presence of Ensign Gilmore. If you attack the rebel camp, I will execute her."

Zergol had one of his guards bring her into view so that Burke could see she was still alive, but in Zergol's possession.

"Zergol," said Burke slowly and carefully. "I am going to kill you with my bare hands."

Zergol had a feeling that Burke's response would be grave. But he felt Burke would calm down as time passed.

"Admiral, I have no intention of harming your beloved. It is my hope that as time passes, you will come to accept that Yammja does not belong to the Empire. It is my sincere hope that you will leave us alone to chart our own destiny."

"I'm going to hunt you down Zergol."

"You try, and I'll execute her. Time changes people. You will change. We do not have to be enemies."

Admiral Burke was furious. He wouldn't endanger Gilmore's life with an overt attack, but he was already making plans to rescue her. It was ridiculous for Zergol to believe that Burke would simply give up with the passage of time.

Burke looked directly at Gilmore.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay," Burke said, trying to comfort her.

"Max, don't worry about me."

Burke then remembered a poem Gilmore once read to him. Before he cut off the comm channel and began formulating his rescue plan, Burke recited the last part of the poem to her.

"Seasons come and go;

But I will never change;

I'm on my way."


	9. Chapter 9 In her Heart

Chapter 9

Title: In her Heart

Posted Sept. 25, 2011

* * *

"I can't do it!" pouted Djeena.

"Yea, you can," insisted Val.

The two of them were at the top of Mount Vail, near Aspen. Val had decided to give all of his MARCOs a week to enjoy Evansworld. Several of the MARCOs joined Val on the slopes. In addition, Djeena's young cousins, Loomie and Neya cruised along on snowboards.

Djeena had previously demanded that Val take her somewhere fun so that she could enjoy some adventure prior to her coronation and being trapped in her palace all the time.

"No," Djeena insisted.

"Fine," said Val. "The cabin is up thataway." He pointed up the slope to the lodge where they first exited. It was roughly 300 feet away. On this particular ski resort, the main lodge was at the top of the mountain. Visitors fly in by hovercopter and landed near the lodge. The peak was pretty flat and was roughly 1 mile wide by one mile across. The parking lot was filled with luxury brand hovercopters.

"Why'd you take me here?" asked an angry Djeena.

"You're the one who said you wanted to come!" retorted an exasperated Val.

"I said somewhere fun. This is not fun!"

"You asked me what I would do for fun. I told you. Then you said you wanted to come along. I warned you that you might not like it."

"But… but…" the young princess was annoyed. "Why does this have to be so _hard?_"

"Things are often hard when you first learn them. Like tying your shoes or riding a bicycle."

"What? And.. What?"

"Just forget it. Things are hard, okay? Life is hard."

"But I can't do this!"

Val pointed to Djeena's young cousins, aged 5 and 7.

"They're doing it! Are they better than you?"

Djeena crossed her arms in front her chest and displayed clear annoyance.

"Fine, I'll walk up with you back to the lodge."

Val looked dejected. Djeena felt a little guilty.

Djeena unstrapped herself from her snowboard and Val unhooked himself from his snowblades. Val took the snowboard and helped Djeena trudge through the snow. They walked back up to the lodge together. Djeena relaxed in the lodge's lounge and sat down on a comfy sofa. Val headed back out for a short run.

Djeena felt cold, so she sat closer to the fireplace. Corporal Sam Logan approached her.

"Didn't quite take to snowboarding, huh?" she asked.

"No," said Djeena.

"Yea, it's tricky. Sorry. At least your caretakers will be happy," said Logan.

"Why?"

"They fought with Val about taking you here. Your caretakers were adamant about you staying safe. Val had said you insisted on having a little bit of adventure before living your life as Queen. Your advisers said no way. That this could be dangerous. Which is true. Val promised he would keep you safe. They argued for twenty minutes over this."

"Oh," said Djeena sheepishly. "But this isn't fun. It _is_ dangerous," she insisted.

"Yea, I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. But… nothing's fun if it's safe, right?"

Corporal Kaitlyn Evans called out for Sam, and Logan excused herself to join her friend.

* * *

Val took his blades off and walked up to the express gondola. Those cable cars were much faster than the typical ski lifts. He sat down and put his blades down on the floor. Just two runs down and he was already starting to heat up a little bit. He unzipped his outer jacket and took his gloves off.

Once the doors slid closed, the gondola moved forward slowly. It ran over a few wheels, and then zoomed upward back to the top of the mountain.

He pulled a trail map out of his jacket pocket. He decided he would make one more run down the novice trail and then slowly move over to the more challenging trails.

A minute later, the cable car reached the peak.

"Wow, already," thought Val as he stuffed the trail map back into his pocket. He picked up his snowblades and his gloves, and prepared to get off the gondola.

* * *

Djeena trudged along in the snow. She was basically back to the spot where she had thrown a fit earlier and asked Val to walk with her back up to the lodge. She watched as everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. She saw two of her servants slowly skiing downhill. Even though it was clear that the two of them were barely balancing, it was also clear that the two of them were laughing and having a good time. For one of the few times in her life, Djeena was jealous of her servants.

She had tried to balance herself, and had slowly gotten better at it. But she fell a few times already. She was annoyed.

As she watched her servants ski out of sight, she caught a glimpse of Val slowly skiing down the slope. He seemed to be moving effortlessly, as if he were born in the snow with blades on his feet. He held both hands behind his back and slowly zigzagged down the mountain. Then, he stopped.

Val unstrapped his snowblades and slowly marched up the mountain to where Djeena was.

"Thought you wanted to stay in the lodge?" he asked.

"I'll try," said Djeena reluctantly.

"That's good. Trying is good," said Val, smiling. "Where is your instructor?"

"She was too bossy, I told her to leave."

Val chuckled. "How are you going to learn this?"

"The way I learn everything else, by watching others do it and duplicating."

"Who's going to tell you that you're duplicating it wrongly?"

"I will."

Val chuckled lightly again. He jammed his two snowblades into the snow vertically and then said "Okay, miss. Show me what you've got."

Djeena attempted to slide slowly a little bit. She moved a couple of inches before she started to lose balance. She immediately stopped and stood still.

"That was good," said Val, trying some positive reinforcement. "Next time, don't stop so soon. Keep going with it."

"What?" said an annoyed Djeena. "And lose my balance and fall?"

"It's not that bad. People fall all the time. It's nothing."

Val then fell down on his right side into the snow. He got back up.

"See?" he asked. "It's snow. Soft."

"You did that on purpose!" said Djeena.

"Yea, so?"

"Falling hurts more when it's by accident!"

"It's your first day. My first day on a ski slope, I was bruised all over that night."

Djeena was horrified.

"But, that doesn't have to happen to you," said Val. "Just don't go nuts."

"Don't plan to."

"Yea, but get a little adventurous, ya know? Try again."

Djeena tried, but once again, she almost lost balance and immediately brought herself to a stop.

"Okay, try not being so tense," said Val. "Bend your knees a little bit more, be flexible so that your muscles can adjust. You'll balance better."

She was able to slide a little bit farther this time. Almost twice as far. But as she lost her balance, she fell into the snow.

"That's okay, that's okay," said Val. He waded through the snow to where Djeena was and helped her up.

"You're okay, right?" said Val.

"Yes," said Djeena as she brushed some of the snow off of her arms.

Val smiled.

"Okay," he said.

Djeena tried to smile back, but she did not like falling.

"Stay here for a second, I'll be right back," he said.

Val walked over to where he stuck his snowblades into the snow. He strapped them on and then glided to where Djeena was.

"Okay, here. Let's do this. Side by side. I'll steady you if necessary."

"No, no," said Djeena in a low voice. "I have to get this myself. I don't want to slow you down."

"You won't, don't worry. Everyone takes time learning."

"I saw you. You can go much faster than me," she said.

"That's okay. I brought you here, so you're my responsibility," Val said. He didn't say it as if it were a burden. It was more trying to convince her that he wanted to.

"You'll waste your entire day," she said.

"Nah. Let's make a deal. We have six hours left here. For three hours, I'll ski slowly with you, okay? Then I'll leave you on your own and go wherever."

"Oh-kay," said Djeena.

"Okay."

The two of them spent the next three hours slowly skiing down the bunny slope. Three times. Djeena was slowly getting better at it. The last trip down, she didn't fall a single time. Djeena even learned a little bit of science. After having switched to short skis when she followed Logan out of the lodge three hours ago, she was curious as to what the difference was between skiing and snowboarding. Val explained that the orientation of their bodies were basically the opposite. For both skis and snowboards, whenever you wanted to slow down or stop, the long edge should be facing the bottom of the mountain. If you wanted to go fast, the long edge should face the sides of the mountain. This made a difference because of the opposite ways a person's feet were strapped to the ski or snowboard. While skiing, a person would face towards the sides of the mountain if they wanted to slow down or stop. With snowboarding, it was the opposite and a person should either be facing the bottom of the mountain or the top of the mountain. This way, the board was brought parallel to the bottom.

Djeena also learned that with the short skis, she could face the bottom of the mountain if she simply wedged her skis into a "V" shape or a triangular shape. It would slow her down drastically. And if she wanted to turn left, she should put a little bit more pressure on her right ski. The opposite was true for turning right. If she wanted to speed up, she would put less pressure on the skis or bring her skis closer to being straight and parallel to each other. The last run down the bunny slope, she basically wedged down the whole way without having to turn to a full stop.

Val was happy that Djeena was able to enjoy her self a little bit more. It was just a little after 1300 hours and he was starting to get a little hungry.

"Lunchtime," said Val as he stepped out of his ski bindings and picked up his blades.

Djeena did the same and they walked together to the cable cars.

* * *

It had been a week since Zergol kidnapped Ensign Gilmore and brought her to the planet Yammja. Burke was getting impatient. The Emperor decided to send more ships to the system. Somehow, Yammja turned into one of the major fronts of the various rebellions against the Empire.

"Did you send a message to the _Vetara_?" Burke asked Riker.

"Yes, sir. Message was sent about an hour ago. She has left Evansworld orbit and jumped out of the system. At her maximum speed, she'll be here within four days."

"Good."

"Sir," interrupted the _Solstice_'s sensor operator. "Three ships have dropped out of warp. Jang Heery requests permission to come aboard."

"Granted," said Riker.

* * *

After a light lunch, Val and Djeena walked out of the lodge together.

"Up for more skiing?" asked Val.

"Sure," said Djeena.

The two of them walked around to another side of the mountain. Djeena got excited and pointed to a trail she thought she would like.

"No, no," said Val. "That's a triple black diamond. You've got to be very experienced to do that."

"But, it says right on there 'No Fall Zone.' That would be perfect. I don't like falling."

"No, you don't understand. Well, I guess that's confusing. That term doesn't mean you won't fall. It means you shouldn't fall. See how steep it is?" asked Val.

Djeena walked over to the edge and it looked like the trail was at least 40 degrees down. In a No Fall Zone, if a person ever fell, he or she would basically fall all the way down to the bottom. There were very few features on the ground to slow or stop the fall.

"During lunch, you said you've done black diamonds," said Djeena.

"I have, but they're very hard. Let's save them for some other time, okay?"

Djeena nodded. Val had actually been peer pressured during a ski trip in his youth to do a double black diamond. It turned out he was able to handle it and had a lot of fun. He would not have tried it otherwise. He thought about how his uncle once said that peer pressure isn't always a bad thing. If it weren't for his peers, Val would probably not have tried various exotic foods or tried to learn to swim. Of course, peer pressure could also be a bad thing.

Val took out his trail map and opened it so that both he and Djeena could see. He pointed to a few trails on the map.

"We'll try this one first and then later we'll see if we want to do this one here."

The first trail Val pointed to was a double green circle, meaning the second level novice slope. The second trail was a single blue square, meaning it was an intermediate slope. The typical slope rankings were broken down into three categories: novice, intermediate, and expert. Those were symbolized by a green circle, a blue square, or a black diamond. Each of those three were then further subdivided into three levels.

Val and Djeena spent the rest of their afternoon on the west side of the mountain. They were joined by Sergeant Driver at the intermediate slope and a few other MARCOs.

In the middle of a trail, Djeena noticed an opening. There was a sign marked with a single black diamond in between two drawings of trees.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's a glade trail," said Val. "Almost all of the trails have been cleared of trees. For the glade trail, there trees in the midst of the trail."

"I see."

Val could see that Djeena was curious and wanted to try.

"I promised your people I'd keep you alive," said Val. "Can't have you smashing into a tree."

Val remembered the first time he went through one of those trails. He and his friends went very very slowly. One time, he almost hit a tree but was able to stop about one foot before making contact. However, the girl behind him couldn't stop. She had slowed her speed dramatically, but was still slowly sliding toward Val. In slow motion, she ran into Val and pushed him into the tree. Val had time to put his hands out in front of him so that he was able to somewhat decrease the impact of being sandwiched between his friend and the tree. He kinda thought it was funny at the time.

"Wouldn't have thought you'd be interested in something like that," said Val to Djeena.

"Just curious," said Djeena. "But you are correct. I do not want to do that." She smiled and then followed Val continuing the blue trail.

* * *

"I am sorry, admiral," said Jang Heery. "Right now, you are not fit for command."

The First Fleet Lord believed that Burke was susceptible to allowing his personal feelings get in the way of carrying out his orders. Already, Burke had vastly scaled back the orbital bombardments in fear that he might strike Zergol or his compound.

Burke knew it was only a matter of time before someone was sent to replace him.

"I stand relieved," said Burke. He walked off the bridge and headed toward his quarters

Djeena joined Kejal in a small room with about four rows of chairs. There were 25 chairs in total. This was the _Vetara_'s private cinema. A place for the crew to watch a movie together.

Djeena didn't quite understand why anyone would watch a movie outside of their own quarters. But this was one of the times when it proved useful. Kejal didn't have her own quarters, and Djeena did not have holo-projectors in hers. Luckily, the cinema had projectors as part of its function.

"Intriguing," said Djeena as the two of them started watching the second movie. Val had given Kejal the day off. It meant nothing to her, as she never grew tired. But Val wanted her to continue to develop interests outside of her engineering work. Or, at the very least, Kejal could interact with other people. Typically, Kejal was left alone in engineering as nobody else was an engineer. There were a couple of MARCO guards stationed, and they would sometimes chat with Kejal. But Kejal never had anything to say. Djeena invited her to come see a movie with her since they both were new to interacting with humans. What was originally planned to be one movie eventually turned into a marathon of three movies when Djeena decided after the first that she would be interested in watching two others.

Djeena had asked Kejal to comb through the video libraries for movies involving human princesses. She was curious as to how human society used to look like. Kejal recalled that one of Val's favorite movies as a child was an animated feature called Disney's _Beauty & the Beast_. That was the first movie Djeena decided that they would watch. After seeing it, she was highly entertained and picked two other Disney animated movies involving princesses. Although Kejal had basically absorbed those movies into her digital memory already, she wanted to humor Djeena. Kejal had nothing better to do anyway. And it would be interesting to see Djeena's reactions.

After the third movie, Djeena was tired and wanted to grab something to eat. They had been snacking on popcorn and candy, but she wanted a meal. But before she went to dinner, she wanted to talk with Kejal for a little bit.

"I would never have pictured human society to have been like _that_," said Djeena.

"Well, those were cartoons," said Kejal. "They are less than accurate portrayals of real life."

"The princesses always seemed to be orphans, like me," said Djeena. "Or, at least they were motherless."

"Yes, I've read academic evaluations of the cartoons. The male protagonists seem to frequently be orphans as well. It's a contrived plot element to free the characters to run off into adventure. It also creates the situation for the characters to have to 'find themselves.' Other movies have similar structures."

"So the stories weren't real? Completely created?"

"Well, my understanding is that the movies were based on stories. Those stories were typically called 'fairytales' and were already exaggerated versions of reality, if not totally fiction themselves. Disney cartoonists took it up a knotch and added even more fantasy. I mean, mermaids, Beasts, and flying carpets were never real."

"_WHAT_?" said a surprised Djeena. She had thought those elements were based on reality.

Kejal could tell Djeena was disappointed.

"Well… Maybe they were real. Who knows?" said Kejal.

"Why would Val's favorite movie have no basis in reality?" asked Djeena.

"Well… these movies are intended for children. Val was a child when he first saw _Beauty & the Beast_. The fairytales typically teach children lessons in life. Things such as be comfortable with who you are, or don't judge people by how they look or how poor they are. Things like that. Adults tend to like it because it brings them memories of their childhood."

"I see…" said Djeena.

"Val also identifies most with the Beast out of all the possible Disney princes."

"Really?"

"Yes. I once asked him why. He said it was because he grew up in a castle and his main servants were a candlestick and a clock. I surmised that was a joke. However, I believe he was sincere when he said he identifies with the Beast over other the princes like Aladdin."

"I can see that."

"My theory is because the Beast was large and Val used to be as well. Although he is shorter than average as an adult, my understanding is that he grew to his height very young. He was always one of the tallest people in his elementary school classes. To the point where he hoped he wouldn't grow taller. Guess he shouldn't have hoped for that."

Djeena nodded. Although, in her heart, she knew it was probably because Val didn't consider himself an attractive male. Although Val looked like an average human to Djeena, it was her understanding that Val grew up amongst very attractive friends. And so, by comparison, Val probably wasn't too proud of the way he looked.

The two of them talked for another half an hour before Djeena left to eat. Kejal decided to return to engineering even though it was still technically her day off.

* * *

"Admiral, sir," said Petty Officer Marcus, the _Soltice_'s communications tech. Marcus had called the admiral to the signals intel room to look over a mystery signal.

Maximus Burke sat down and reviewed the message. He could identify it as Ensign Gilmore. She and a few of her fellow prisoners had escaped and were on the run. They hoped to make it to a nearby loyalist village and hide out there while awaiting extraction. She would try to re-establish contact once she reached the village.

"Can you pinpoint the source of that?" asked the Admiral.

"Yes," said Marcus. He brought up a virtual map of the southern continent and then zoomed in six times. The signal came from somewhere deep in a forest. In the midst of that forest were three possible villages Gilmore may have been referring too. The true loyalties of the villages was unknown to both sides.

* * *

Val sat at his desk and looked over action reports. He was trying to bring himself up to speed on all the military maneuvers that had taken place at Yammja system while he was away at Evansworld. Several other ships at taken position near Yammja Prime, while some rebel gunboats had massed along the outer edge of the system, awaiting orders or reinforcements before pouncing. These rebel gunboats were from five other systems where the rebellion had been crushed thoroughly. As the rebels fled, the joined together for one last battle before they would be completely defeated.

At the same time, the Krowtonan High Guard was scheduled to pour in more ships as they steadfastly secured each former rebel planet.

"This is going to be a mess," thought Val.

His doorchime rang.

He got up from his seat and faced the door.

"Enter," he said.

The doors slid open and he saw Djeena on the other side. He swiped the screen on his EvansPadd and then dropped gently on his desk.

"May I come in?" asked Djeena.

Val smiled. "I just said you could." He waved at her with his right hand to signal her to enter.

"Oh." She walked in and the doors slid closed behind her.

"What's on your mind?" asked Val.

"I wanted to talk to you about your diet," said Djeena.

Val laughed a little. Throughout his adult life, there was always one or two people who would bother him about his eating habits.

"I really don't want to nag, but I'm very concerned for you," said Djeena.

"That's okay. Other people have said things to me. I just think you're all overreacting."

"I think you eat too much meat."

Val laughed a little again. His parents had always told him that he ate too little meat. His body never really generated a lot of heat and he was always wearing layers of clothing to keep himself warm. His mom had incessantly told him to eat more meat. As it stood, he ate meat maybe one or two meals out of the day. There were definitely meals when he went meatless. However, in his outside demeanor, he always expressed to his friends that he loved meat. Perhaps to avoid them telling him he ate too little of it.

"I'm pretty sure I'm fine," said Val.

"You eat meat every day!" said Djeena.

"Uh, yea. That's normal. People eat meat three meals a day."

"Then they'll have heart attacks. I'd prefer it if you didn't."

Val sighed.

"And plus, your men who eat tons of meat also eat fruits and vegetables. You don't."

Djeena got Val there. Ever since he was a child, he would spit out his vegetables. The only fruit he ate was in the form of apple pies. While he wouldn't eat vegetables, during his mid-twenties, another if his friends insisted he have some vegetable intake. Since then, he drank daily a concoction fusion mix of fruit and vegetable juice.

"You're malnourished," said Djeena.

"Wait. First I eat too much meat. Now I'm malnourished?"

"You can be both!" insisted Djeena.

"Okay. First of all, if I ate too much meat, I'd probably be obese. Look at me!"

Val rolled up his sleeves and showed her how skinny his arms were. Whenever he wore a wristwatch, it would always be the smallest size. Though, shirts were usually medium-sized as opposed to smalls.

"So you're malnourished then."

Val sighed again.

"I'm a Starfleet officer. I get physical check-ups two times a year. I've always passed!"

"Then your Starfleet doctors are derelict in their duties. You yourself admit you are skinny."

"Skinny doesn't mean malnourished. I bet I can drop down to the ground and outdo you in pushups."

"That's not the only indicator of health," said Djeena. "I don't care if you can wrestle a bear to the ground, your insides are still going to give up on you."

"May I ask what brought this on?" asked Val.

"Kejal and I were talking earlier today. She said you sometimes fight with insomnia. That's a sign of poor health."

"It's just stress. It'll go away."

"No, I understand that your position gives you great stress. But sleep is really important. Stress can be from the outside, and I'm sure you get a lot of it. But stress can also come from your inside. If your body is not taking in enough nutrients, it will be stressed."

"Okay, fine. What is it you want me to try eating?"

Historically, Val found that he could just show that he would attempt to eat a salad and his friends would usually stop pestering him. He genuinely couldn't stand salads though. And his friends almost always saw that and felt guilty for torturing the poor guy.

Djeena took a small plastic bag of tiny berries out of her purse. They were sundried.

"These are jeego berries from my planet," said Djeena. "They are superfruits. Promotes various hormones in your body. Boosts your immune system."

"Um… are you sure they are safe for me? I mean, people on your planet might need different nutrients than people from mine. Or, at the very least, we might be allergic to different stuff."

"I checked with Zet before I came here. He said your body could handle it and would likely benefit from it."

"You realize that immune systems are tricky things? An underactive one is bad. But an overactive one can be just as bad, as they start attacking healthy tissues."

"Would you please just try the berries?"

"Okay, okay," said Val with both of his hands up in a gesture as if he were giving up.

"Just try eating three," said Djeena.

He grabbed a glass of water from his desk.

"It's okay if I just swallow them, right? As opposed to having to chew them?"

"What, you mean as if I were asking you to eat an insect or something?" joked Djeena.

"Like a vitamin or a pill."

"Fine, fine."

Val humored Djeena and swallowed three jeego berries.

"Are we cool?"

"Yes," said Djeena with a genuine smile. She left the small bag of jeego berries on his desk.

"Perhaps tomorrow you can try eating five?" she asked.

"We'll see."

She looked excited. Val thought it was weird. Djeena then turned around to exit Val's quarters.

"Good night, Captain Shin."

"Good night, princess."

* * *

Ensign Noah Lester walked up to Captain Riker.

"Sir, we have a communication signal from BarCAP for you. On speaker."

Riker tapped a blinking light on his screen.

"Solstice actual. Go."

There was a little bit of static before Riker heard the response.

"Solstice actual, Badman Five. We've got what appears to be a sensor ghost on our screens. Unclassified bandit has crossed our checkpoints. Suspect hostile intent. Recommend alert. Recommend alert."

"Thank you. Out," said Riker.

"Yellow Alert," said Lieutenant Sito. She had been newly promoted.

The Barrier Combat Air Patrol had been flying near the edge of the system to keep a watch on the rebel gunboats.

Sito checked her long range sensors for what the pilots were talking about. She spotted the anomaly. It was heading toward the Krowtonan flotilla and Yammja.

"Possibly a small shuttlepod. Maybe just a probe," reported Sito.

"Launch TarCAP," said Riker

"Launch TarCAP, aye. Intercept in twenty."

While the Barrier Combat Air Patrol generally flew a specified route as a screen, the Target Combat Air Patrol was specifically tasked to intercept approaching craft.

* * *

"Commanding Officer, _Vetara_, arriving," announced Lieutenant Sito.

The bridge officers stood at attention as Val and his entourage beamed onto the _Solstice_'s bridge.

"Cease bombardment immediately," ordered Val with urgency.

"Who are you to be giving orders?" demanded Jang Heery. "You are not a part of the Krowtonan High Guard. The Starfleet officers of the _Solstice_ may have been absorbed, but you are not in our chain of command. You have no authority here."

Val was about to speak, but Princess Djeena interrupted.

"Val Shin, Baron Vetara, is a member of the Krowtonan noble ranks, as decreed by the Emperor himself. He was the on scene commander here prior to the arrival of the Admiral Maximus. And most importantly, he is my chief military advisor. As I am the First Princess of Yammja, it would be wise for you to heed his commands. In fact, you may presume that every military order he gives comes out of my mouth as well. Is that understood?"

Jang Heery growled in anger.

"Cease bombardment," he mumbled. The order was given fleet-wide and the other Krowtonan ships in orbit halted bombardment as well.

Val greeted Captain Riker and thanked him for the permission to board directly onto the bridge.

"May I use your conference room?" asked Val.

"Sure, Captain."

"Beeshar, Tex, Driver. On me, on me," said Val.

The three knew to follow him into the conference room.

"Captain Riker, if you would join us as well," requested Val.

Thomas Riker nodded and led the way to the _Solstice'_s conference room.

* * *

Admiral Burke looked out into the horizon. The storms would not subside for many hours. But he knew the risks. He was glad that he was able to triangulate the position of Gilmore and her group. Together, they made it to a cave and huddled there awaiting rescue.

Burke fiddled a little bit with his communicator. He was trying to boost the signal so get through the various storms.

* * *

"Report," requested Val.

"Three hours ago, the Admiral took a shuttlecraft and went down to the planet's surface," said Riker.

"And you allowed this?" asked Val.

"He's an admiral. He does whatever he wants," said Riker defensively.

Val nodded.

"We received a signal from Gilmore. She was still deep in the forest. Sensors had a group of rebels chasing her."

"Why didn't any craft get sent after him?" asked Val.

"Mutiple storm fronts were approaching the southern continent, making flight an impossibility. The Admiral's shuttle was able to soft crash, but by the time he made it to the ground, the storms rolled in. This included an ion storm in the atmosphere that is wreaking havoc with our transporters. We have intermittent communications. No shuttle would be able to fly into the atmosphere without being knocked down and crash landing. Last time the Admiral reported in, he did not yet find Gilmore. He was moving through the forest in an armed Argo. Not sure how well he could maneuver that thing in the middle of a forest."

The Argo was a dune buggy type vehicle that was designed for battles in the open desert. It probably would not have able to move much, or quickly, through forest. But the arms carried would be enough to defend against a squad of several attacking rebels.

"Nobody thought to accompany him?" said Val.

"Well, he had been relieved of his command by Heery," said Beeshar. "When the Admiral requested a rescue mission, Heery denied the request and specifically ordered that nobody travel down to the planet. That's when the Admiral went down himself."

Val looked annoyed.

"When is the next window for extracting him?"

"Six hours," said Riker.

"Six hours? This thing might be over in six minutes!"

Val wondered whether rebel forces would recognize the Admiral if they captured him.

Lieutenant Sito interrupted the meeting.

"Sir," she said to Riker. "Petty Officer Marcus says we are receiving a scrambled message from the planet. Appears to be the Admiral. Marcus is scrubbing it now."

"Please patch it through here," said Riker.

"Yes, sir. The Admiral took on the callsign Dallas," said Sito.

Val shook his head.

"The man's a jerk. But he's a _funny_ jerk," said Sergeant Driver.

Riker wondered what that comment was about. Driver didn't explain. Dallas was Val's aviator callsign during flight training at the Academy. Prior to actual flight training, a pre-requisite for the cadets was remotely piloting drone aircraft. One of the first missions was piloting a surveillance drone. The missions paired aviators with sensor analysts. The aviator would fly the craft while the analyst read through the real-time sensor data.

However, during the exam, Val's analyst didn't show up. Unbeknownst to him, this was an intentional set-up by the flight instructors. Every cadet experienced the same "hiccup." It was a test to see how they would deal with a subordinate who failed to show up for duty. Would they be harsh? Would they be too lenient?

Val misread the test. He didn't know there was one. He was young and cocky, and thought he could fly the mission by himself. His drone took off in San Francisco. Halfway into the mission, Val turned his attention to the realtime surveillance feed. He finally spotted the ground target he was assigned to track. Unfortunately, he spent too much time monitoring the target and his drone lost significant altitude. Alarms rang and he was able to recover. The incident occurred over the city of Dallas, Texas. From then on, his nickname was Dallas.

"This is Dallas zero-one," said Burke. "Is anyone picking this up."

Burke knew to use a secure channel, and he hoped that none of the rebels were picking up his signals. Even if they couldn't decipher the actual communication, they would be able to triangulate the signal to its source.

"Zero one, this is honcho. What is your situation?" said Val. He used the military slang term for the person in charge. He didn't want to waste time with creating another callsign and he was certain Burke could recognize his voice.

"My shuttlecraft is down and I am on the run. Requesting immediate extraction."

The meeting was interrupted by Lieutenant Sito once again.

"Sir, the other Krowtonan High Guard ships have re-commenced bombardment," she said.

"What?" said an outraged Val.

Jang Heery walked into the conference room, smiling.

"I'm sorry, Baron Vetara. The First Fleet Lord has asked me to relieve you of command as well. You're done. Cut the transmission to the Admiral Maximus."

"Belay that!" said Val.

Val and Heery watched each other to see who would back down first. Sito did not cut the channel.

Heery growled once more.

"I need extraction, now!" screamed Burke from the other end of the channel.

"Admiral Maximus," said Heery in a calm tone of voice. "You disobeyed my orders and I am not inclined to listen to anything you have to say. Extraction is impossible at this point because of the storms, but even if it were, I would do no such thing."

"The Jang is right," said Val reluctantly. "We can't extract. You need to hunker down and wait out the storm."

"Then at least send me reinforcements!" screamed Burke. "I'm being hunted down here!"

Jang Heery seemed pleased.

"Zero One!" said an exasperated Val. "You are down in enemy territory. Life is tough. I am very sorry. But pull yourself together. You are a Starfleet officer and you will get through this. Remember your training. Evade your pursuers. Keep your wits about you, and you will survive. You hear me? Six hours. We'll get you home."

Heery wouldn't have any more of it. He pushed the screen to cut off the channel.

"I'm going to break that finger, after I rearrange your ugly face," said Val calmly.

Riker stepped in between the two men. He grabbed Val's arm gently.

"Captain Shin, don't do this," he said in a whisper.

Val and Riker walked out of the conference room together. Heery remained pleased with himself.

* * *

Djeena was furious.

"Who is he to counteract my wishes?" she yelled.

"The First Fleet Lord believes that the Baron Vetara's judgment is clouded in this instance," said Shi Flin.

"Clouded? What does that mean?"

"That he has a close relationship with the admiral trapped on the planet."

"So if I were the one Val wanted to rescue, the Fleet Lord wouldn't allow Val to rescue _me_?" she hurumphed.

Flin wasn't exactly sure why Djeena cared so much. She and the Admiral Maximus were not close. Flin surmised that she simply did not like the fact that her wishes were being countermanded. Still, it was curious that she felt so strongly about Heery's course of action. Flin hoped that she didn't care simply because Val cared. He had seen signs that she and Val were growing too close. He prayed to the gods that he was only imagining it. Two months after her coronation, she was scheduled to marry to the Grand Duke of Bisco. The marriage would be essential to the stability to the realm. Flin couldn't tolerate the intrusion of a romantic rival.

* * *

Val sat in his tiny office, just off to the left side of the bridge. His doorchime rang.

"Enter."

Staff Sergeant Driver entered and then stood at attention in front of Val's desk.

"Sir, permission to speak?"

Val had a feeling he wasn't going to like this. But he nodded is assent.

"With all due respect," Driver started.

"Uh-oh," thought Val. Every time a sentence started with that phrase, he could be sure the words following would lack the due respect.

"We have a man down. What the hell are we doing?" continued Driver.

"We'll wait for the storms to subside. We can't do anything else."

"Send in reinforcements. Sensors show there are at least a hundred rebel troops combing the forest for the Admiral."

"It's a large forest. And anyway, they don't know they're looking for the Admiral. They just know there's an escaped prisoner."

"There's a mole in the Krowtonan ranks, I can feel it."

"If they knew the Admiral was down planetside, there wouldn't just be a hundred troops in the forest. The entire damn rebel army would be in there. And, by the way, that's also exactly what would happen if I send shuttles full of troops down to the forest. The rebels will see that, and they'll escalate their hunt as well. And this presumes that the shuttles make it down to the ground intact. Shuttles aren't built to crash land. To top it off, I've been relieved by Heery. Even if I wanted to send shuttles down, there's nothing I can do."

"Sorry, sir. That's right. I forgot. You have no power at all."

Driver said it saracastically. There must've been _something_ Val could do. Driver snapped back to attention.

"Am I dismissed?" he asked.

"Go."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

Val chatted with Kejal in engineering. They were reviewing the specs of one of the Vetara's shuttlecraft. There was a Romulan shuttle and a Federation shuttle that were of particular interest. The Romulan shuttle was designed to fare better in the midst of ion storms. However, it was the case for spatial ion storms. Not atmospheric ones. While the shuttle would fare better, the avionics would still face interference and the shuttle would risk crash landing. The Federation shuttle wouldn't fare well in the storms at all, but had a unique feature. Designed by Section 31, it was a prototype holo-shuttle. With projectors emitting outward, the shuttle could disguise itself as another type of aircraft. Or even blend in with the atmosphere.

Five hours. Five hours until the first clearing from the storms. And that wasn't even smooth sailing. That was only when the storms would _start_ to clear.

"Val! Val!"

Val heard Djeena's voice yelling from the corridor. She ran towards engineering.

As she passed the entrance, Private Caitlyn Evans stood at attention.

Djeena stopped by the computer terminal where Kejal and Val were working. She bent over, trying to catch her breath. It appeared as if she ran through half the ship. Val was intrigued.

"You're not on blood thinners, are you?" she asked while gasping for air.

"What?" he asked confusingly.

Djeena tapped a blinking light on one of the terminal's screens, and Zet's hologram materialized in engineering.

"You see, princess. I told you he'd be fine," said Zet calmly.

Djeena was still catching her breath.

"Jeego berries have an adverse reaction when paired with blood thinners," explained Zet.

Val laughed.

"Guess I could've died from a stroke or something a couple days ago," he joked.

Djeena's little health kick was going to cause him more stress than the wayward admiral.

Zet ran a medical tricorder to scan Val. Everything seemed normal.

"In good health," reported Zet.

"Thank you," said Val. "See?" he said to Djeena.

"Though, the princess is right. You do exhibit signs of stress. Try to calm down a little. You're a young man. Your hair shouldn't be thinning out already," said Zet.

Val sighed. He started to notice some of his hair thin out when he was 27. Back then, he had hoped that he wouldn't be bald by 30. Now that he was 30, he was hoping for 31.

"Though, that's probably more of a genetic thing," added Zet. "But my understanding is that historically, male humans feared their heads growing bald. It's not much fun when your head looks like an egg."

An egg. Val couldn't believe it, but Djeena's pestering with her berries and whatnot might actually be of use.

* * *

"What do you think?" asked Val. He had summoned Staff Sergeant Driver to engineering.

"I think Section 31 has a lot of interesting toys," he said.

He was examining the specs of a tiny vehicle that 31 nicknamed an "egg." A small pod about 8 feet wide and 13 feet tall, its official name was the Exoatmospheric Insertion Pod, or the XIP.

"Designed to crash land onto a planet," said Val. He had skimmed through the specs for the pod a week ago, but hadn't thought about it since.

Driver read the description out loud.

"Smaller profile makes it hard to detect on radar. Even when detected, the smaller profile makes it difficult for enemy ground fire to hit when compared with larger dropships. Braking rockets and the hardened shielded exterior allow for the single occupant to survive crash landing. Advanced internal shock absorbers also protect the single occupant from most ill effects of the jarring impact."

"Unfortunately, I only have three of these," said Val. "So pick three of your best."

"Sir, I'd like to go," said Driver.

"I appreciate your willingness, but I need you up here."

"To do what, sir?"

"Various… administrative things. You're the platoon sergeant. Can't have you on such a mission."

"With all due respect, sir."

"Here we go again," thought Val.

"MARCO protocols specifically state that leaders be willing to do anything their troopers are asked to do, and should expose themselves to the same dangers as their subordinates."

"If Major Douglas were here, you'd let him drop planetside?" asked Val.

"He'd insist on it. And he'd be right. Officers should lead rather than follow."

"You would prevent me from this though?" asked Val. He knew the sergeant would.

"You're not trained for this. Plus, the ship needs a captain."

"The MARCOs need a platoon sergeant."

"Sergeants Raines and Hall would be more than adequate replacements for me if the need arises."

"Why do this yourself?"

"It's my duty, sir."

"No, it's not."

"Sir. I am a Federation Marine Commando. I am sworn to defend the Federation. And I am sworn to protect Federation citizens who are too weak to protect themselves. This includes squid officers who absentmindedly land on hostile planets and then get hunted down by a battalion of enemy soldiers."

Val reluctantly agreed.

"Pick your other two and meet me in shuttle bay in 10 minutes."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

Corporal Samantha Logan and Private First Class Hugh McCarter were strapped into their drop pods and the hatches were closed.

Sergeant Driver's pod was slightly larger and contained more gear. It also had a rudimentary onboard computer. After he stowed his phaser pulse rifle and other gear into the pod, he started strapping on his phaser pistol and his backup.

"Come back in one piece," said Val.

"I intend to."

"If you can't find the Admiral, do not engage the enemy. Do not create a distraction in the hopes of pulling the soldiers away from hunting him down. You are to hunker down and wait for reinforcements. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Val knew the sergeant probably wouldn't obey the standing order. Or perhaps he'd obey its words, but somehow find a way to circumvent the spirit."

Before he stepped into his drop pod, Sergeant Driver faced Val, stood at attention, and then saluted his captain.

Val returned the salute.

"Go," he said.

Staff Sergeant Driver entered his drop pod. Two minutes later, the three MARCOs dropped out of the Vetara's shuttle bay and down toward the planet.

"It's going to be a bumpy ride," said Val.

* * *

"Why are you not moving?" asked Sergeant Driver, rainsoaked. In addition to the ion storms in the atmosphere, there appeared to be a tropical storm pouring buckets of rain into the forest.

"We're awaiting extraction," said Burke.

"I thought you were heading toward a loyalist village?" said Driver.

"Three clicks to the east," said Gilmore.

"Why are you not there now?" asked Driver. "You should be awaiting extraction while there."

"Don't you think that's the first place the rebel army would look for us?" said Burke.

"Are there rebels in the village?" asked Driver, addressing Corporal Logan.

Logan looked at her handheld screen device.

"Negative. All rebels are to our south. At least fifty of them now. Moving slowly in our direction."

"Christ," said Driver.

"Get off your butts," ordered Driver. "We're heading toward the village."

Driver led the group toward the village Shadzaar. Traveling with the three MARCOs and the three Starfleet officers were five royal soldiers who had been captured by the rebels.

Privately, Burke asked Driver how he could differentiate between a rebel and a villager. Driver admitted that there wasn't a perfect way to do so. His scanners could only differentiate people who were armed with charged laser rifles from people who were not.

* * *

"This is the _Vetara_, how are you, Captain Riker?" said Kejal.

"Where is your captain?" asked Riker.

"He's down in the shuttlebay," said Kejal.

Riker knew Val would try to pull a stunt like this.

"Patch me through to him, please," said Riker.

The signal was patched through to the shuttlebay.

"Captain Shin, may I ask what you are doing?"

"I'm working on a shuttle," said Val. "We have about four hours until the storms start to break. I want to be ready immediately when the window opens."

"We've detected several contacts traveling toward the planet. They came from your ship. May I inquire as to what they were?"

"Bombs," said Val. "We detected a squad of rebels approaching within a click of the Admiral. We dropped the bombs to neutralize them."

"Don't you think that would attract the attention of the rest of the rebel army?" asked Riker.

"No more than if those rebels actually found the Admiral."

Captain Thomas Riker was tired of this game. But he knew that if he were in Val's place, he would probably be scheming on a way to rescue the Admiral. As it was, he already had Lieutenant Sito try to figure out a way while he dealt with Jang Heery.

"I can only hope that I am not speaking with a hologram right this instant and that Val Shin has not foolishly flown down to the planet in a futile attempt to save his friend."

"Rest assured, Max is not a friend. Even if he were, I would have done no such thing," said Val.

The communications channel shut off and Val continued to work on the holo-shuttle.

* * *

Driver and his group reached the village easily. The villagers were friendly and offered shelter from the pouring rain.

Although the village elders had expressed solidarity with the rebellion's leaders, one of the captured Krowtonan loyalist soldiers knew the village had sympathies with the former King of Yammja. Djeena's father was very well liked in these parts of the forest. Although they knew nothing of Djeena herself, they were willing to give her a chance. They were leery of the military dictatorship the rebels were supporting.

"Still roughly seventy rebels to our southeast," said Corporal Logan. "Five clicks and closing."

"Okay," said Driver. "We don't have much time. Once they come within half a click of this village, we're leaving. No sense in getting these people mixed up in our fight."

Logan nodded.

Driver chatted with some of the village elders to figure out a spot closeby that would be easy to defend. Perhaps some type of hill. The elders identified one such location. However, they insisted that they wanted to help Driver against the rebels. As such, Driver agreed to hold his ground at the village itself. He wished he had extra weapons to arm the villagers. The elders told him not to worry. Although they did not have laser weapons, the villagers had rudimentary projectile weapons. Crossbows. They could be highly effective.

* * *

Sergeant Driver set up a perimeter defending the southeastern approach to the village. He also put a few snipers up in the trees. He wanted to hand them the MARCO phaser rifles, but since the villagers were more adept to using their crossbows, he thought that would be better.

He formed the rest of the villagers into two batteries. The village contained over eight hundred people. At least half of them were willing to fight. This could wind up being a major skirmish.

"Whatever comes our way, we stand a much better chance of repelling the advance if we stick together. Hold the line. Defend the perimeter. Do not chase after the rebels if they engage and then retreat. You stay where you are. If we hang together, we win. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" came the reply of dozens of fighters. And these were only the squad leaders. Driver now had an army of hundreds.

* * *

"Clear them out of my sky!" ordered Val.

"Will do," replied Loco.

The village of Sharzaad all of a sudden became one of the biggest points on the map.

Other villagers from neighboring villages had poured into Sharzaad for their stand against the rebels. Once they won that confrontation, the loyalists were emboldened and continued their march. They took town after town.

The storms had cleared. But instead of evacuating the three MARCOs that Val sent to the surface, Val found himself sending more.

Val also commanded the various air forces now flying air superiority missions over the southern continent.

"You two must be the biggest failures in the history of military leaders," said Val disbelievingly.

Driver was still on the ground, helping direct the loyalist formations. They would reach the rebel capital within an hour. Storms subsided. Air cavalry units hovered over the ground troops to provide support while fast jets took out any rebel aircraft that attempted to take off.

"This was an intelligence screwup," said Burke as he tried to defend himself. He was finally extracted from the planet and returned to the _Solstice_. The First Fleet Lord placed him back in command, as he had rescued Ensign Gilmore. However, everyone in the room knew that Val Shin was now the de facto leader of the forces on Yammja. Burke occupied himself with fleet maneuvers and planned to wipe out the rebel gunboats at the edge of the system. Those minor annoyances would be gotten rid of once and for all.

"Your intel officers need to be court martialed. All of them," said Val.

Jang Heery was also vastly surprised by the lack of accuracy in the reports he read from the Krowtonan High Guard Intelligence Service. In the course of several hours, Val Shin was about to break the back of the rebel forces, something both Burke and Heery had failed to do for over a month.

Heery would recommend to the First Fleet Lord to vastly overhaul their insertion and infiltration doctrines. This was a massive intel failure.

"We comported our tactics with Krowtonan military doctrine," said Heery. "This case called for continuous orbital bombardment until the rebels surrendered. We weren't allowed to insert people on the ground for fear they might be captured or killed."

"So you wasted a month bombarding the bejeezus out of the southern continent without even bothering to assess the situation on the ground?" asked Val.

Unbeknownst to the Krowtonan High Guard, the southern continent was teeming with loyalist fighters who were itching to take down Pow Zergol and the other members of the military junta. Some of the loyalists were fine with the absolute monarchy which existed under Princess Djeena's father. Other loyalists believed that a Queen Djeena would be the one who could transition the planet to a more fair society and knew the military junta would simply be too oppressive. Either way, it turned out that the majority of the residents in the Southern Continent did not approve of the rebels.

The hundreds of thousands of loyalist fighters were simply waiting for the High Guard to lead them, organize them, or send them weapons. They were ready to fight.

* * *

A week later, the southern continent was quelled. The rebellion was over. There were far less casualties than imagined. Certainly less than during the month of orbital bombardment. The vast majority of the rebel army surrendered as the loyalists advanced. The loyalist forces suffered zero fatalities. Pow Zergol and Jang Masus, the former leader of the rebels, were nowhere to be found. Eventually, Burke would find them. And execute them.

The loyalists celebrated their princess' triumph. There were parades in her honor, on both the northern continent and the southern continent. Her coronation would be in a little over a week.

* * *

Princess Djeena's coronation went off without a problem. She was now Queen Djeena of Yammja.

As she ascended to power, she also started the process of loosening the central authority's grip over the outlying provinces. She was going to create a slightly more balanced ruling authority, with the help of Jarett Gronski, who agreed to travel to Yammja and help with the transition. It was agreed that every two years, there would be slightly more rights given to her people, culminating in a semi-constitutional monarchy in ten years time.

After routing the rebel space forces, most of the Krowtonan High Guard ships had left the Yammja system. The _Vetara_ was scheduled to make a return trip to Evansworld and beef up some of their defenses in the event of another Kazon incursion.

Val had one last meeting with the Queen before he was to leave.

"Good luck with everything," said Val.

"You will come back to visit, right?" asked Djeena.

"Maybe. We might be away for a very long time. And… Earth is in the opposite direction from here."

"Oh…"

Djeena wasn't sure whether Val and his crew had decided to settle down on Evansworld. The truth was, Val hadn't decided for himself either.

"Maybe you'll come back for my wedding?" she said.

"Maybe."

"It will be autumn by then. I know you like autumn," said Djeena.

"Actually… I like the winter," said Val.

"Oh, right," she said. Why would she say autumn? She knew he liked winter.

"But autumn's good too. There's good stuff in autumn."

Djeena had wanted to Val to stay on as her chief military advisor.

They were silent for a minute, and both stared at the floor. Part of Djeena wished that things were different. That Val had been born a Krowtonan. Maybe the two of them were meant to be with each other. But she knew that wasn't their destiny. Val would return to his ship. She had to marry the Grand Duke and unite their lands.

"The first time I met the Grand Duke was on an autumn day. Chillier than I thought it would be," said Djeena.

"Oh yea? Chilly eh? Did you and your gentleman friend cuddle together in the cold?" he asked jokingly.

Djeena was surprised. "Of course not! It was the first time we met!"

"That's how we do it!" said Val. "It's a guy move. Chilly. Cuddle. Simple but effective."

"Not every person is as childish as _you_, Val."

"Hey, all guys do this. And haunted houses. Haunted houses are good dates. Girls get spooked. Hold on tight to your arms."

"Val Shin," said Djeena. "You should just be yourself. You do not need to resort to such shenanigans."

Val laughed.

"Okay, okay," said Val. "I was only joking. Calm down."

The truth was, he was only half joking. There was nothing wrong with either of the things he mentioned.

Djeena was glad that the Grand Duke of Bisco was a significantly more serious person when compared with Val. That reminded her of her final gift to Val before he left. She grabbed a couple of pouches from a drawer in her table and handed them to Val.

"What is this?"

"I know you like hot chocolate. You should try some of this."

"Hot chocolate?"

"With various organic vegetable powders mixed in. It's good for you. Also designed with some cocoa mixed in, do kids will drink it."

Val couldn't believe Djeena was still bothering him about this stuff.

"I already drink a mix of fruit and vegetable juices. I don't need to overdose on this stuff."

"Just do a pouch a week. You drink hot cocoa at least 5 times a week. So add that powder to it one time."

"Fine," said Val.

"You could probably replicate some on your ship. I hope you live to 300 Earth years old, like I plan to."

Val cringed at the thought. 300 years. Yikes. Although, it would make the journey to the Alpha Quadrant seem less of a trek.

Val grabbed something from his backpack. It was a small doll.

"For you," said Val. Instead of legs, the doll had a large fish tail. She was a mermaid. Djeena held it in her hands for a while.

"Kejal told me your favorite Disney movie was the Little Mermaid. Nice choice. It's a fun one."

"Thank you," said Djeena.

Before Val left, the both of them hugged for a second. It would probably be the last time they saw each other.

* * *

Captain Riker sat at his desk when his doorchime rang.

"Sir, you asked for me?" said Lieutenant Sito.

"Yes. I was just reviewing these reports. Did we ever identify the sensor glitch?" he asked.

"We ran full diagnostics. There were no problems with the sensors."

"So what do you make of this ghost shuttlepod or probe we encountered?"

"Not sure. It disappeared from sensor sweeps once TarCAP was launched. At its last known speed and trajectory, if it existed, we should have had visual contact with it prior to Captain Shin's MARCOs dropping on Yammja.

Lieutenant Sito scrolled through the sensor data logs to the time index for when Sergeant Driver and his troopers dropped planetside.

"That's weird," said Sito.

"What?" asked Riker.

"Captain Shin had stated that he sent three MARCO troopers down to planet during the storms to try to find the Admiral."

"And…?"

"Sensor data records show four contacts entering the atmosphere at that time."

* * *

Note from Author:

I realize this storyline has been very hit or miss. Some people like it a lot, some people dislike it a lot.

To all the fans of this story, thank you so very much for reading it. Thanks to various fans for their comments, the nice e-mails, and for tagging it as a favorite. I do hope you enjoy the story and are entertained. It may be a while before I can create the next chapter, but I'm hoping to do so by late December. Once again, thanks for reading! Everyone have a wonderful Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Xmas. :)


	10. Chapter 10 In the Streets

Title: In the Streets

Written: late Dec/early Jan 2012

Posted: Jan 11, 2012

* * *

Pow Gows ran to the front lines.

"Hose them down!" he ordered.

His brigade was used to fighting fires, not fighting insurrections.

Gowse started to wonder whether he and his brigade would have to resort to deadly force. He hoped he wouldn't.

* * *

Val sat in the gul's chair on the _Vetara_'s bridge and tried not to be annoyed at the two Krowtonan officials who were asking for his assistance. An emergency, or so it seemed.

Shi Holl and Jang Font were on a split screen. They were good people, but were feeling the pressure from their own superiors. Holl was calling in from Krotowna Prime and Font was the regional official in charge Home Guard deployments in the region which included the Olami system.

"Jang Shin, would you and your MARCOs be able to assist?" asked Font.

"I'll see what we can do. We're three hours away."

"Please lend a hand in whatever way possible," said Holl. "Huge appreciation, from the Emperor and me personally." Holl smiled and then his image blinked off.

Font remained.

"Sorry to put this on your plate, Val," she said.

"Is this an evac?" asked Val. He didn't really get the details of what he was supposed to do. Only a briefing of the situation on Olami Six.

"Well…" said Font. "I think Reet would like you to hold the planet."

"What?" asked Val.

Reet Holl was the deputy minister in charge of the Home Guard's complex deployments. Olami Six was falling into chaos.

"I know, I know," said Font in an understanding tone. She was young. Placed into her position by her family's noble background, she tried to approach her job as carefree as possible. She was only a few years older than Val and the two of them shared a smooth rapport while communicating even on official matters. They joked around an awful lot, but were professional when the situation called for it. This would be the fifth time Val helped the Krowtonan Empire with one emergency or another. He couldn't wait to fly straight out of Krowtonan space.

"Just try to do what you can," continued Font. "If you have to, evac Gowse's guards and we'll go from there."

"Tell him to hold on as best he can."

"Oh, he knows," said Font. "Best of luck."

Her image blinked off the screen and Val plotted in the course and engaged.

* * *

Mah Blees reported to her site leader.

"Sir, we can definitely hold the perimeter. But we're going to have a hard time advancing and clearing the streets."

"The cavalry should be coming soon," said Gowse.

"You think the aliens will help us?" asked Blees.

"That's what I hear."

Blees was conflicted. She would like the help, but deep down, she wasn't sure if her mission was what she signed up for. She had some level of sympathy for the subjects who were now on verge of a full revolt.

* * *

"How's it going?" asked Val.

"I think I'm enjoying it," said Kejal. "If I am programmed to enjoy such things," she added. In front of Kejal was a drink the humans called a vanilla milkshake. Being a hologram, Kejal never had the need to indulge in desserts. However, she noticed that Val and several of the MARCO troopers had a fondness for things that tasted sweet. Staff Sergeant Driver had referred to this as a "sweet tooth."

Val's combadge chirped. He tapped it.

"Go ahead."

"Captain, we have arrived in system. Two patrols boats are approaching. Their commander has hailed," said Julie Hall. She was standing post at the _Vetara_'s bridge and monitoring any incoming communications.

"Thank you, sergeant. I'm on my way."

Val walked out of the mess hall and headed for a turbolift.

* * *

Back in the alpha quadrant:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard awoke, slightly startled. He looked around at his surroundings and realized that he was in his quarters on the newly commissioned _U.S.S. Enterprise-E_. What was up with all of these nightmares lately? Last night, he had a nightmare that he and the rest of humanity was being judged once again. Just several minutes ago, he had a nightmare that he was back on a Borg Cube, serving as one of their commanders. He heard the Borg Queen whisper… Locutus.

Picard got up from bed and went to his replicator. He ordered a cup of warm milk, something Beverly Crusher had recommended if he was having trouble sleeping.

After finishing the beverage, he went back to bed. He hoped he would never again have to deal with Q or the Borg. Ever.

* * *

"Jang Shin," said the young Krowtonan lord on the viewscreen. "We have dealt with the problem and your assistance is no longer required. I thank you for coming in such a short time. Please, continue on your previous course."

Val acknowledged and wished the lord the best of luck. The viewscreen then blinked off.

"Well, that was easy," said Staff Sergeant Driver.

"A little… _**too**_ easy," said Val. He shrugged. "Oh well."

Val sat down at his captain's chair and punched a few commands on the console to his chair's right hand side. The _Vetara_ jumped back into warp.

* * *

Captain Thomas Riker sat in his office on the _U.S.S. Solstice_.

"We're going to send the _Solstice_ to investigate," said Admiral Burke on the computer screen. "The _Resolute_ and I will rendezvous with you at the planet."

"Have they really re-formed?" asked Riker.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out together."

* * *

Val stepped out of the shower and dried off. It was 2200 hours and he would try to get to sleep before midnight. Many of his friends found it unique that he would almost always shower before going to bed. The typical human showered after they woke up. But Val was brought up to shower before going to sleep. Always sleep in a clean bed in clean clothes, his mother would add.

As he put on his sleepwear, an individual appeared in his cabin out of the blue. Reflexively, Val hit a silent alarm that was on his desk. MARCO troopers would be at his quarters within 30 seconds.

"Captain Shin, we meet at last," said the intruder. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Who are you?" asked Val.

"Why, I'm Q," said the intruder. He was dressed in a Starfleet captain's uniform. Four pips on his gray collar. Red shoulders on his otherwise black uniform. Two red braid stripes at the cuffs of his sleeves to signify that he was a commanding officer. First officers wore one stripe, while all others had plain black sleeves.

"What are you doing here? Quintus told me he would refrain from visiting me for at least a year."

"Well, I'm not Quintus, now am I?" said a jovial Q.

Two MARCO troopers bursted into the captain's quarters, rifles up, trained at Q.

Q snapped his fingers, and two new intruders appeared, standing between Q and the MARCOs. Neither was armed.

Val put a hand up, to signal that the MARCOs should stand fast and not engage yet.

"Who are these two?" asked Val.

One was a relatively large alien. Brown. Hairy. He stood a little over six feet tall and looked to be a formidable fighter. Strangely, he was dressed in a Starfleet uniform. The yellow shoulders identified him as an engineer or security crewman. He also wore a silver sash across his chest. The second appeared to be an attractive human female, with a rather scant outfit. It was relatively form-fitting, and was in the colors of Val's uniform. A deep plunging neckline that had black trim, but the rest of the uniform was in dark red. The scantily-clad human female was a redhead, and she wore a Starfleet combadge.

"Well, since you brought two of your crew in, I thought I'd bring two of mine," said an amused Q. "This one is my Chief Bodyguard. We'll call him Wolfe. The other is my Seduction Officer. We'll call her Red."

Val looked at the two for a few seconds.

"Ah," said Q. "You must be thinking that they look familiar?"

Val nodded. "I'm guessing your bodyguard is supposed to be a Klingon? Based on Picard's Worf?"

"You disappoint me so, Captain Shin," said Q. "These two are familiar to you because they are from your own imagination! Of course, I did dress them up as Worf and Troi from Picard's _Enterprise_. Had to keep the Starfleet theme going."

Val then recognized the large bodyguard. It was a version of the Disney character Beast. It was the live stage version that he saw at a musical when he was much younger. He didn't recognize at first because the normal version was an animated cartoon character. He couldn't place the redhead.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't Walt Disney. These aren't my creations," said Val.

"You got me," said Q, pretending to frown. "They're my choices from what Quintus told me of your background. The Beast, well, he's your favorite character, isn't he?"

"Then why not make your other one Belle?" asked Val. It would've made sense to have the two characters together.

"Well, she would've been out of character as a seductress now, wouldn't she?" said Q. He could tell Val was having some trouble figuring out who she was supposed to be. Ariel? She was the only Disney character Val recalled as having red hair.

Q whispered "That's Jessica Rabbit."

Q then snapped his fingers and his two "crew" members disappeared, along with the two MARCOs.

"That's better," Q said.

"Bring my troopers back this instant," insisted Val.

"Relax, capitan," said Q in an attempt to reassure. "Your two MARCOs are right outside in the hall. Of course, I took the liberty of locking your door."

"Why are you bothering me?" asked Val.

"Wanted to see for myself what Quintus saw in you. Not much from what I see."

"Thanks. Now you can let me be."

"Well, I didn't say you were totally uninteresting."

Val wasn't pleased. He would've rather been uninteresting.

"Tell me, counselor: are you going to just spend the rest of your days doing favors for the Krowtonan nobles?"

"Why is that any of your business?" asked Val.

"No, none of my business at all," said Q casually. "It's just… you have the capability of being much… more than you are right now."

"I'm fine where I am."

"No doubt. You love ancient movies, right?"

"Love is a strong word."

"Well, let me quote from a movie which I believe to be one of your favorites. I look at you, and I see two men: the man you are, and the man you ought to be. One day, those two will be the same person. Do you recognize that quote?"

"That's lame, Q," said Val. But Q could tell Val recognized the quote. It was from an old movie titled "The Replacements." The plot revolved around a team of replacement football players who never made it to the professional leagues, but were called up when the regular players went on strike. It was, indeed, one of his favorites.

"Is that how you feel about yourself, counselor? That you're not really a true captain? Just a substitute teacher. Because that's what you're looking like to me."

"Thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe substitute teachers qualify as totally uninteresting."

But Q didn't finish quite yet.

"You're different from Picard."

"Human beings are all different from each other," said Val.

"Yes, yes," said Q. "But both of you catapulted into the captain's chair under emergency circumstances. Picard jumped a few ranks to captain the _Stargazer_. Though, as a bridge officer, I suppose he was groomed to eventually command a ship. Same for Janeway. You, on the other hand, this wasn't in your career trajectory. The word that best describes your former career path is probably administrator, or bureaucrat."

"Do you have a point somewhere?"

"I guess my point is this: be confident in yourself as a captain."

"I'm plenty confident in myself," insisted Val.

"And also, whatever Quintus suggested you do, I recommend the opposite. That one's a troublemaker."

"I guess it takes one to know one," said Val. "Anyway, Quintus didn't recommend anything to me."

"Oh…" said Q, who was somewhat surprised. "Well then, carry on and pretend I never visited."

Q then disappeared, leaving Val wondering why Q just wasted several minutes of his life.

* * *

After a few minutes, a chirp came from Val's combadge, which was sitting on a table next to his bed. It was Kejal.

"Captain, we have an incoming transmission from Jang Font."

"Thanks," said Val. He walked over to his desk and tapped his personal computer. Font's image appeared.

"Howdy, ma'am," said Val. The two of them had last joked about the strange dialects of ancient Earth, with the Texan accent of particular interest.

"Howdy, sir," said Font. She smiled. "When will you be arriving at Olami?"

Val was a little puzzled.

"Say again?"

"I thought you would've arrived by now. Did something stall you guys?"

"We just jumped from there about 4 hours ago, everything was fine."

"Huh?" asked Font.

"Yea, we dropped out and were greeted by a couple of patrol craft. I spoke with a mid-level mah who asked us to halt our approach until she could clear us with her superiors. Then her commander, Therton, hailed. Said the situation was under control; no need for our assistance."

Font seemed to think about it for a few seconds. She recognized the name Therton. He was one of the lower local nobles from the Olami region. Why would he turn away help? Font had just received a message from Pow Gows no more than 3 minutes ago saying he was still awaiting reinforcements or extraction, and that the situation was deteriorating.

"That's really weird. Gows just asked for your location and an ETA," said Font. "Do me a favor, Val?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Head back to Olami. Tell them I sent you, and see if you can get a hold of Gows. Better yet, tell them Holl sent you. His name probably has more sway than mine."

Val laughed. He wasn't annoyed. Just one of those things.

"We'll head back, ETA probably a little over 4 hours."

"Thanks Val!" she said. She also punched in some text which appeared in a black box on the bottom of the screen. It was a smiley face. Another recent thing she found interesting about humans was that in past times, when messaging through computers first became widespread, humans liked typing in emoticons. She thought they were cute.

The screen then blinked off.

Val tapped his combadge.

"Kejal, are you on the bridge?"

"Engineering, sir."

That was fine, she could access the ship's systems from engineering.

"Please reverse our course. We're going back to Olami."

"Reverse course, aye, sir."

* * *

One week ago:

"Admiral, we are within visual range."

"Put her on screen."

The viewscreen at the front of the _Solstice_'s bridge popped to life and a unique looking ship could be seen. It looked sleek, built for speed. The hull was a grayish-silvery color, similar to other Starfleet vessels. The two small engine nacelles glowed in blue, as opposed to green like Romulan vessels, red like Klingon vessels, or even the various yellows or oranges of other minor Alpha quadrant alliances. The vessel on the viewscreen appeared to be a Starfleet ship. It was roughly four or five times the size of a Danube-class runabout.

"Looks like the merchant was right," said Captain Thomas Riker.

An alien named Arturis had approached a Krowtonan patrol several weeks ago. He told the Krowtonan officer in charge that he stumbled onto what he believed to be a Starfleet vessel. It had been abandoned, but otherwise seemed to function smoothly. A few Krowtonan officers boarded the ship, and then flew the ship to meet with the _Solstice_.

The visual scanners made a sweep of the hull.

"_U.S.S. Resolute_," said Lieutenant Sito as she read the ship's name emblazoned on the hull.

"Noah?" said Admiral Burke.

Originally a science officer, Ensign Noah Lester was now the _Solstice_'s tactical officer. He scanned the _Resolute_.

"Looks like a small exploratory survey ship," said Lester. "Built for deep space. Minimal weaponry but speed probably matches ours. Relatively strong shielding for a ship her size. About two-thirds our strength. Crew complement would probably be about a dozen or so."

"I'll lead an away team," said Captain Riker.

Burke nodded.

Riker tapped his combadge.

"Ensign Gilmore, please meet me and Lieutenant Sito in Transporter Room One.

"Aye, captain," came the response from the internal comm system.

Sito got up from the operations officer's chair and joined Riker in the turbolift.

Before they left, Burke said "Riker, send Arturis over. I'd like to ask him a few questions about how he found this ship."

"Will do."

* * *

"Pursuit course, engage," said Burke.

"Aye, sir."

Ensign Jean Hejar sat at the flight controls and sent the _Solstice_ speeding after the _Resolute_. She was not usually part of the _Solstice_'s crew. After Ransom had been appointed as ambassador to Evansworld, he had taken Locarno, Crusher, Hejar, and Albert as his aides. Now, with the recent attack by the Kazon, the four former Nova Squadron cadets would be even more invaluable to Evansworld in its attempt to design and operate orbital defense platforms.

Hejar had requested some vacation time and decided to spend some of it with her friend, the newly promoted Lieutenant Sito Jaxa. Hejar happened to be onboard when the Sito was beamed over to the _Resolute_ as part of the away team.

Burke pointed a phaser pistol at Arturis' head.

"Give me the command codes to that ship," demanded Burke.

It turned out that the _Resolute_ was not a Starfleet ship at all. Arturis belonged to a race of aliens who had been enmeshed in a low-scale war with the Krowtonan for years. After the arrival of the _Solstice_, the Krowtonan pulled resources from other sectors and finally crushed Arturis' planet.

"The Krowtonan decimated my people," said Arturis. "We used to be millions, now we are a few thousand." He explained that for weeks, he researched the _Solstice_ and the Federation. He then designed a ship which appeared to be of Federation origin, hoping to lure Burke to the ship to investigate. The ship was then automatically programmed to raise shields and jump into high warp. A self-destruct was triggered and the ship would explode in 10 minutes.

"Soon, you will be a few thousand minus one," said an impatient Burke.

"I watched helplessly as my family was killed. Murdered. By the Krowtonan," said Arturis. "I had been hoping to kill _**you**_, Burke. But I'll settle for you watching helplessly as your officers die in a fiery explosion." Arturis did not know that Gilmore was Burke's woman. Of course, Burke would have been displeased no matter which of his officers were on the booby-trapped ship.

Burke fired his phaser and killed Arturis.

"Minus one, you piece of garbage," he said angrily.

* * *

"What the…?"

Gilmore and Sito had been surprised when the ship suddenly jumped to warp.

Now, three pairs of hands were furiously tapping at the computer consoles on the bridge of the _Resolute_.

"No use," said Sito. "Helm; shields; transporters, we're locked out of everything."

"Is it some kind of defense mechanism against intruders?" asked Riker.

"I don't know," said Sito.

"It's all encrypted," said Gilmore. "We have a little over 8 minutes."

* * *

"Can we throw a tractor beam? Grab them and then drop out?" asked Burke.

"Maybe," said Hejar. She got up from her seat at the helm and joined Ensign Lester to see if they could figure out a way to pull the _Resolute_ out of warp.

"What about transport while in warp?" asked Burke.

"Can't until their shields are down," said Lester. "Even if they were, it would be tricky while we were both at warp. But it could be done."

Burke sat down in the captain's chair. He put his hands on the armrests, but slowly tapped them with his fingers. He was nervous.

* * *

"Sito, you hung out with Val Shin, right?" asked Riker.

"Hung out?" asked Sito.

"Had lunch with. Chatted for a while."

"I would've thought as fellow captains, it would've been you guys who would've had lunch together," said Sito.

Riker didn't. Although he and Val were friendly enough, they weren't friends. Not in the way that Burke and Val seemed to have bonded, even though the two seemed to disagree more often than not.

"We did chat once," said Sito.

"What about?" asked Riker.

"Cardassians. As a Bajoran, he wished to know whether I would ever be able to work alongside Cardassians. I told him if the lives of my crewmates or Federation citizens depended on it, I would work with a Cardie just fine."

"I see," said Riker.

He then brought Gilmore into the conversation as well.

"Do either of you remember what he said about how he was able to take command of the Cardassian ship? The _Vetara_? I recall at some point, he had spoken to Maximus about it, but I can't remember. Were you guys present?"

Riker obeyed his orders from Burke and recognized him as an Admiral. But Riker sometimes reverted back to calling Burke "Maximus." After all, Burke had served under Riker before the _Solstice_'s little trip to the middle of nowhere.

Gilmore tried to remember.

"Something about… clocks," she said.

"He was lying," said Sito. "I could tell. When he explained to Burke, his eyes were darting to the left. Or the right. Or somewhere. But they weren't focused on Burke. He was making up a backstory on the spot."

"But what did he say?" said Riker.

"Chronometers," recalled Gilmore. "He set the ship's chronometers back a century. When the ship's computers thought they were in the past, all programming after that point in time was shut down, as it created a logic failure. Shin was then able to reprogram the ship's computers."

"Like I said," insisted Sito, "that was a lie. He's a nice guy, but I'm sure he's slick. Lawyers."

"Sounded plausible," said Gilmore.

"Lawyers always make stuff sound plausible," huffed Sito. "They do it all the time in interrogations. Pretend they have more evidence than they do. Get you to turn on your friends. They'd call it bluffing, but it's lying."

Riker was going to have to divert Sito's annoyance. It was an unnecessary distraction. He wondered whether it had anything to do with the inquiry at Starfleet Academy about Nova Squadron. There was less than three minutes left before the ship blew. No time to debate about lawyers.

"Regardless, Shin may have based it on some truth. It takes time to make stuff up out of the blue. He probably based it on something he did or saw in the past. Maybe with another ship. Whatever the case, let's try it," said Riker.

Gilmore navigated through the computer controls. She had been locked out of all essential ship functions. Surprisingly, chronometer controls were accessible.

"I can't believe this," she said out loud. She couldn't believe their luck.

She turned the clock back. Nothing happened.

"Darnit!" she exclaimed. She slapped the console with her left palm.

But something did happen. The self-destruct countdown seemed to have stopped. Upon further examination, the countdown didn't stop, it just jumped to over a century.

"Okay, that neat trick just bought us some time. Now let's figure out how to bring this ship to a halt," said Riker. He ordered Sito and Gilmore to follow him to engineering. If they could bring the warp core offline, the ship would drop out of warp.

* * *

"They've just dropped out," said Hejar.

"Drop us out," said Burke. The _Solstice_ dropped out of warp a few seconds after the _Resolute_.

"We've overshot them," reported Hejar. "Circling back, full impulse."

Ensign Lester was able to open a communications channel with his captain.

"We've pulled power offline," reported Riker. "On emergency power. If I'm reading these gauges correctly, the shields won't drop for several hours. But after that, you should be able to beam us back onboard."

"Good. Thanks for your quick thinking," said Burke.

* * *

Back to present:

"I am sorry, Jang Shin," said Mah Kinn. "I have my orders, I cannot allow your ship into the system."

Mah Kinn was the mid-level officer in charge of the two patrol boats that once again intercepted the _Vetara_ before she could reach Olami 6.

"This is a request straight from the Emperor, through Shi Holl and Jang Font."

"Once again, I apologize," said Kinn.

"Can I at least talk to Gows and have him give me a sitrep?"

"I apologize, the Pow Gows is occupied at the moment."

"You realize I can basically just plow right though you guys, right?"

The _Vetara_ was large enough, or more precisely, the patrol boats small enough, so that the _Vetara _would barely feel the collisions as she made her way to Olami 6.

"I do, and I am at your mercy, Jang Shin."

Val was frustrated. He wasn't going to plow through these low level soldiers. They were just following their orders, most likely from that Therton fellow Val spoke with the day prior.

* * *

"Therton believes you are partially at fault for the uprising at Olami," explained Pow Gows.

Kinn had allowed the _Vetara_ to maintain station at the rim of the system, not knowing that the signal strength of the communications equipment on the _Vetara_ could beam hundreds, if not thousands, of times stronger than the typical Krowtonan transmitters.

Val and Gows had been talking for several minutes now, and the two of them seemed to get along well.

"What is your read on this, Pow Gows?" asked Val. "How long do you think you can hold off the rebels?"

"Probably indefinitely, he have enough resources for that. Either way, in a few days, it should be moot. The food would start to spoil anyway."

"Come again?" said Val.

"The food. It would spoil."

"You're defending a stockpile of…. Food?" asked Val.

"Yessir."

"I was told you were defending a stockpile of weapons. Preventing the rebels from grabbing weapons."

"No sir. The rebels are half-starved villagers from about 2 days away. The planet suffered a deep depression in the past few years. A lot of people lost their jobs; became destitute. They had traveled here over a month ago and demanded that the food from the food reserves be released. But the stockpile was originally designated for export. The masses blocked all the streets and the food couldn't get to a processing center to add the necessary preservatives that would keep the food from spoiling. From the processing center, the food would have been flown off-planet."

"Gows, if the food is going to spoil anyway, just give them the damn food," said Val.

"I would, but I've got orders, sir," said Gows. "This comes from the Olami King."

Val sighed.

"Though…" said Gows, "I guess since you outrank me, you could technically give me orders as well. My Home Guard unit is here on Olami at the request of their King, but I still have a proper chain of command to follow. Home Guard and High Guard Jangs would be authorized to give me orders. Are you ordering me to release the food, Jang Shin?"

Clever. Val knew he would get heat for it though. But he felt it was the right thing to do.

"Release it," said Val.

* * *

"How did this… happen?" asked Burke.

"I'm not sure, sir," said London.

Standing in the _Solstice_'s transporter room were the Paris and Kim silverblood duplicates, who had recently re-formed on Evansworld's moon. They had been stranded there for a few days after re-forming. They eventually reached one of Evansworld's lunar rovers and were able to communicate with Chief Duncan's Air/Space Command.

"Will the _Voyager_ duplicate also redevelop?" asked Riker.

"I'm not sure, sir," said London. "Because it was much larger, it may take a significantly longer amount of time.

"Lieutenant Sito, are you detecting any concentrations of the silverblood dust on the moon?" asked Burke after hailing the bridge.

"No sir," said Sito. "The metallic dust seems to have scattered in space. At least, what little I can detect of it."

"Sir," interrupted Ensign Lester from the bridge, "there's an urgent communiqué for you from the First Fleet Lord."

"Thank you, ensign," said Burke. He walked out of the transporter room briskly.

"I'll put you in guest quarters for now," said Riker.

* * *

"They're firing," said Kejal.

Val could barely feel it. The ship didn't shake at all.

"Our shields will hold," said Kejal.

"For another thousand years," said Driver, only half-jokingly.

"Return fire?" asked Kejal.

"No," said a reluctant Val. He knew one disruptor blast, even at 10% intensity, would easily destroy these tiny patrol boats.

* * *

"You and your battle group are to head over to the Olami Sector," said the First Fleet Lord.

"The Olami sector?" asked Burke. "That's several sectors out of my jurisdiction."

"You're a Krowtonan admiral, all of Krowtonan Space is your jurisdiction."

"Right, but my current assignments."

"Can be ignored for now."

"I'm pulling my frigates as well?"

"Yes."

"My group is spread out a little bit right now," said Burke. "We'll regroup and enter the system together."

"As long as you have time, I want them at Olami in less than a day."

"Understood."

The First Fleet Lord then explained the situation. Several Home Guard units disobeyed orders from the local authorities and then abandoned their posts. Local units gave chase and there is now some sort of standoff between the two sides.

"Break the two sides up, got it," said Burke.

"Be aware, your friend Captain Shin somehow got into the mix."

"When?"

"Just a day or so ago. He had been requested to aid the Home Guard unit planetside. The request came from one of the lower level ministers on Krowtowna Prime. When the Home Guard unit asked for protection against the local authorities, Shin obliged. The local authorities then called in the High Guard to get a handle of this situation. Char Torb and his task force, three heavy cruisers, are heading in that direction now. I suggest you get there before he does."

"Understood."

"Good luck. I sincerely hope this does not turn into the catastrophe that it is sounding like."

"I as well. Out."

* * *

Val walked down the corridor on his way to the bridge. He was just about to report for his shift when Kejal paged him and told him they were expecting company. He was met by Staff Sergeant Driver at an intersection.

"How can you drink that stuff?" said Driver.

"It's hot chocolate, get over it."

"No, I mean that crap powder that's floating in your cocoa."

It was the combination grass and cocoa dust that Djeena had given him the last time they were together. Val tamped it down to drinking it only once or twice a week.

"Eh, whatever. You get used to it."

Driver could tell that Val, in fact, never really got used to it.

"I'll do you a favor and just vaporize that container for you."

The both of them laughed lightly. Djeena had actually given Val a small cylindrical container about half a foot tall and 3 inches in diameter full of the powder. At Val's current rate of consumption, it would last him a year.

"I promised. I mean what I say and I say what I mean."

"Skipper, I'm disgusted."

The two smiled and entered the bridge.

"Looks like three heavy cruisers have dropped in," said Kejal. "Their commander is hailing."

"Put it on."

A Krowtonan female blinked onto the front viewscreen. Although an alien, Val deemed her as probably one of the most attractive of the Krowtonan females he had met thus far. Or, at least seen on viewscreen.

"Captain Shin, please turn over Pow Gows and his guards immediately."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"You can't? Or you won't?"

"Both."

After Pow Gows had ordered his troopers to distribute the food, the villagers were elated. Unfortunately for him, the King was not. Such an act would only embolden others to demand more of what wasn't theirs. Where would it stop? When would it stop? The King had to nip this in the bud, and punish those responsible accordingly. As Gows got wind that the Olami King requested aid from one of his cousins, a High Guard field general, Gows requested that Val extract him immediately before the High Guard ships arrived. Val reluctantly agreed, knowing he was partly responsible for Gows' predicament. He gently nudged the patrol boats out of the _Vetara_'s path, without destroying the boats, and flew over to Olami Six. Luckily, there was no other form of resistance. He piloted the _Vetara_ into orbit, and was able to beam Gows' home guards onboard within several minutes.

"I apologize in advance, Jang Shin. But you do realize, if the King Rufus orders me to fire on your ship, I will carry out my orders. If you attempt to leave the Olami orbit, I will fire on you."

"Rufus?" thought Val.

"I understand. Let's hope this doesn't come to that," said Val.

"I sincerely hope so to. Don't die over here."

"That's not the first time I've heard that."

* * *

Six years ago.

"Where the hell are you going?" asked Whitford, worried for his brother.

"Deyga system, one of their planets is about to implode."

"Why are you going? I thought you were in law school?"

"I'm still in the Starfleet Reserves."

"You just served your summer onboard the battle tug."

"I volunteered. The residents need our help. There aren't enough Fleet personnel in range to help with the evacuation."

"Those residents were told to evacuate months ago! This is an outrage. Why did they stay?"

"They probably hoped the problem would be resolved. It doesn't matter; they need to be evac'd."

"Nobody should help people who won't even help themselves," said Whitford.

"No. That's exactly the type of people who need help. If they're helping themselves already, why would they need your help? In reality, you're just saying people should just help themselves, and nobody should help anyone else."

"Fleet personnel shouldn't be put into danger because morons wouldn't evacuate, as ordered."

"Don't worry, younger brother. This will be safe."

"It's a planetwide natural disaster!"

"I'm just going to be a third officer on a mega-shuttle. Fly planetside, load people, fly off. No big deal. I definitely won't be one of the ground personnel combing the cities for stragglers."

"Well…. It's still a waste of manpower and resources. To think, I get taxed to fund this kind of garbage. Because idiots need rescue. It's a moral hazard too! You save one bunch of idiots, and then future idiots expect to be saved as well. What a waste."

"It's people's lives. Credits shouldn't be a concern."

"You know, I can't wait for you to become rich. And then become the person you are against right now. Which _**will**_ happen."

Val laughed. "Uh… yea… I can't wait to become rich either."

"You will. I have faith in you," said Val's brother, smiling. Then, with some concern, he said "Don't die over there."

"Don't plan to," said Val confidently. "Blasting off in 10 mikes. Talk to you later bro."

* * *

The small shuttlepod entered the _Phooson_'s shuttlebay.

Jang Font stepped out of the shuttlepod with two of her aides.

"Welcome aboard the RY _Phooson_," said Shi Flin.

The _Phooson_ was Djeena's royal yacht. It was not customary for Krowtonan ships to have prefixes in their identifiers, but Djeena copied the custom from the Starfleet ships. The royal yacht was delivering Queen Djeena to the Olami sector at the Emporer's request. On the way, she dropped by the Vanad sector to pick up Font, as she was requested by the Emperor as well.

"Any idea why we're heading to Olami?" asked Font.

"No idea," said Flin. "The Emporer did not explain to Queen Djeena."

"I see," said Font.

"Have you heard anything?" asked Flin.

"I have some idea…" said Font. She wasn't sure, but was willing to bet that it had something to do with Gows' Home Guards.

* * *

"Dropping out of warp," said Lieutenant Sito. "Looks like the _Yond_ and the _Sullis_ have arrived."

"Seven major ships in the vicinity of Olami Six, including us. Looks like everyone but us has their weapons charged," reported Ensign Lester.

"Shall we join the party?" asked Riker.

"Do it," said Burke.

On the front viewscreen, they saw a cluster of six ships. In the middle was Val's _Vetara_, with her front main spiral disruptor glowing red, ready to fire. Surrounding the _Vetara_ on three different sides were three Krowtonan heavy cruisers. Then taking position behind one of the heavy cruisers were the _Yond_ and the _Sullis_, seemingly ready to fire on that heavy cruiser. Burke surmised that the target was the lead heavy cruiser.

"Why does everything this month have to be a trainwreck or a fiasco?" asked Burke rhetorically. First the _Resolute_ incident, now this. Would he ever have a calm week?

"You forgot my personal favorite, multiple choice c, a debacle," replied Riker.

Burke put his hand to his face, shaking his head. Three different words for disaster. He recalled one conversation he had with Val. Apparently, they both served together a long time ago to evacuate a planet in danger of imploding. They never met because they were on different evacuation teams. The planet had been hit with three cascading disasters. Val commented that it was one disaster stuffed in another stuffed in another. Burke recalled that too. Burke's commanding officer had described the situation as the Russian nesting doll of disasters. These were antique toys from Earth that were shaped almost like an egg. They were a series of dolls in decreasing size that were placed inside one another. Val's commander had termed it a "disaster-ducken." Taken from an old earth feast food called a turducken that was a chicken stuffed inside a duck and then stuffed inside a turkey. Either way, it was something on a scale neither had experienced in their young lives.

"Looks like the _Phooson_ and the _Otin_ are joining us in about 5 minutes," said Sito.

This had potential to get crazy.

* * *

All the ships had powered down their weapons. For now. The yacht _Phooson_ didn't have any weapons, but the various warships, cruisers, and frigates stood ready to re-activate.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Driver.

"Sure? No. But who's ever sure of anything?"

Val was walking to the _Vetara_'s transporter room, ready to beam down to the planet's surface. He was going to take a minimal bodyguard detail with him. Driver would be there. In addition, Corporal Morris and Private Evans would join.

Kejal watched Val step onto the transporter pad.

"Good luck, captain," she said.

"You're captain now," said Val. He could see Kejal's face turn a little worried, if she could be worried. "I mean, until I get back," he said, trying to reassure her that he would return. He hoped he would.

"Energize," said Val.

Kejal linked to the ship's computer and did not have to touch any of the control consoles in order to carry out the order. She watched Val and his three MARCOs beam away.

* * *

The commanding officers of the eight warships sat at a large conference table along with Queen Djeena of Yammja and King Rufus of Olami. Scattered about the large room were also their aides and bodyguards. There must have been at least 50 people in the room.

"This cannot stand," said King Rufus. "This cannot stand! Pow Gows must be handed over this instant."

"Your people were on the verge of starving, Majesty. They still are," said Val.

The two of them summoned every iota of restraint to keep from getting off of their chairs and engaging in fisticuffs.

"You, Jang Shin, are a hypocrite of the highest magnitude!" screamed Rufus. "Don't think I am ignorant of your Starfleet. A captain, and I quote, has absolute authority over his officers, crew, and anyone aboard his vessel. Your men obey you to the letter. And not only that, if they betray you, you are authorized to execute them. And now you would rob me of that same right? How dare you? You are a captain. I am a King."

"You are going to quote Starfleet regulations to me?" said an irritated Val. "I make my living quoting regulations word for word. You were quite selective in your quotes, so let me fill in the blanks. First of all, Article 802 of Fleet regs say 'the Commanding Officer has the absolute responsibility for the safety, well-being, and efficiency of his ship and crew, and his authority is commensurate with that responsibility. Accordingly, a captain has absolute authority over his officers, crew, and anyone aboard his vessel.' Where the hell are you on your responsibility towards the well-being of your people, majesty?

Futhermore, the regs continue saying 'a captain's authority to carry out sentences is subject to the limitations prescribed by constitutional, statutory, interstellar, and regulatory law including United Federation Starfleet Regulations.' So please, don't make it sound like I can do whatever I want but am pulling up the rope ladder right after I've climbed up."

"That's enough," said Burke calmly, raising one of his hands to signal that the two of them needed to cool off.

Most of the other commanders of the Krowtonan High Guard had clearly already taken sides on this issue. Char Torb, along with his two subordinate commanders had sided with the King. Meanwhile, Pow Beeshar and Pow Dergo had sided with Val.

Pow Bena, the new commander of the _Otin_, seemed hesitant.

"Clearly, the King cannot be responsible for the well-being of _all_ of his subjects," said Char Torb.

"Then he shouldn't claim authority over _all_ of his subjects," retorted Val. "It's that simple. With power comes responsibility. That's how it works. The have both, or you have neither."

"This is madness," said Rufus. "Djeena, how do you tolerate this fool?"

"Choose your words wisely, cousin," said Djeena.

Although Rufus was almost 20 years older than Djeena, she ranked higher in the royal lines.

"These… gentlemen are responsible for this in the first place," said Rufus. He was about to call them something other than gentlemen, but restrained himself.

"I was requested to arrive here to evac Gows' troops. This came from Krowtona Prime," said Val.

"It's true, I gave him this order," said Jang Font.

"The villagers only started demanding the food after they read Earth history. They started chanting: 'The rich think you're weak, show them they're wrong. Block all the streets and show them you're strong.'"

"Catchy," said an amused Val.

"It's from your own history. Don't you know it?"

"You'll excuse me if I don't remember all the catchy jingles of Earth history."

"Early 21st century, A.D. Deep global recession strikes. Many lose their jobs. At the start of the second decade, the poor take to the streets, protesting against the rich. They start amassing in your home region, New York, in a small area containing the investment banks and corporate law firms which seemed to prosper while the rest of the economy declined. They called themselves Occupy Law Street, as that was where all the top law firms were concentrated. Ring a bell?"

"I'm sure I read about it in a history text somewhere. What is your point? That your people would've just quietly starved to death if they haven't read a history textbook? I mean, the French took to the streets and beheaded their royals at the guillotines. I guess you should be glad they skipped that particular chapter."

Rufus was horrified. He had not read about the French Revolution and this was the first time he was hearing about it.

"That can't be what democracy looks like," said a concerned Djeena.

"No, it's not. But it's what happens when you have large chunks of people living on the edges. You need to fix this problem, King Rufus," lectured Val.

"I'm not having this," said Rufus. "I'm the King here. You will do as I say."

"How about I overthrow you and make myself King," said a confident Val. "I'd like that. King Val. Has a nice ring to it. I'm sure I'd make ten times a better king you are."

Rufus was incensed. A couple of his bodyguards stepped up, showing that they would protect their king. Val's MARCOs did not react. They knew their captain wasn't serious.

"You think you can stop me?" asked Val. "You don't even have the proper air resources to airlift your stockpiles of food to the processing centers after the villagers blocked all your ground routes. You think I can't conquer your backwards planet in less than an hour?"

"Admiral!" pleaded an outraged Rufus.

"Val, I said that's enough," said Burke.

"I support Jang Shin on this," said Pow Beeshar, feeling a little bit brave, but also fearing the consequences. "Pow Gows took the proper course of action."

"I strongly disagree," said Char Torb.

The count was three ship commanders against three. Char Torb's three ships versus the _Vetara_, _Yond_, and _Sullis_. The _Vetara_ was the strongest out of the six ships, but Torb's cruisers were stronger than the two frigates _Yond_ and _Sullis_.

"I do feel Jang Shin's viewpoint is more than proper," said Pow Bena. "But of course, I am a part of the Admiral Maximus' battle group and I will follow his direction."

"Finally," thought Burke.

"That's right," said Burke to the group. "This isn't a committee. I'm not taking votes from ship captains. I'm the highest ranking High Guard official here and all High Guard ships will follow my instructions, is that clear?"

Everyone but Val reluctantly nodded their assent. Val didn't say anything. But then again, he didn't have to. Burke pulled him aside.

"I'm having a private word with Captain Shin. Take a breather," Burke said to the rest of the group.

Burke and Val walked over to a corner of the room where they could talk in private. They faced a large window. The two of them faced out, instead of to each other. The view was serene.

"Peaceful," commented Burke.

"Yea…"

Burke then faced Val.

"Val, I don't need this. I can't have this," Burke said.

"I understand. I should not have gotten involved in this."

"Regardless, that's in the past. We'll move forward from here."

Burke handed Val an EvansPadd tablet. About half the size of a regular EvansPadd. Val scrolled through the information.

"We've just received reports from some of our scouts," said Burke. The information has been consistent across multiple advance scouts. They took almost a year to make the round trip journey and report, but you see the info that they gathered.

Val read through the reports. A squadron of Krowtonan scout ships reached an anomaly that the locals called the Nekrit Expanse. After debating whether to go through, half the scout ships went in, while the other half returned to report to Krowtona Prime. Several months later, the other scouts returned with some vague preliminary details of the alien races that lived on the other side of the Nekrit Expanse. These aliens were considerably stronger and possibly a much larger threat than anything the Krowtonan High Guard had ever faced. The biggest highlighted threat was from aliens who seemed to match Starfleet descriptions of the Borg. That would correspond with Starfleet's understanding that the Borg originated from the Delta quadrant. This was going to be a huge headache if the Borg ever decided to travel in Krowtona's direction. Burke had to prepare defenses. Another potential headache was a race of relatively large aliens called the Hirogen wolfpack. These aliens roamed in packs and deemed most other races as prey to hunt.

"I can't have this infighting amongst the Krowtonan," said Burke. "We need to stand united against these threats. I can't have Home Guard units defecting. Or High Guard ships from different battle groups fighting each other. We need to work through this."

"I agree."

"Like it or not, you now have sway with some High Guard ships. Ships in my own battle group, no less. I'm not saying they would follow you against my wishes. They probably wouldn't. But I would rather have you on my side. Can I count on you, Val? Can I count on you to help me defuse this situation?"

"Sure, Max. I don't want this think to blow up. But at the same time, these kings shouldn't just allow their people to starve. There has to be a line drawn somewhere."

"I understand what you are saying, and that will be dealt with."

The two of them nodded.

* * *

Burke reconvened the meeting and basically told everyone what was going to happen. The Emperor had requested that Queen Djeena attend because the Emperor was hoping that if Olami could head towards reforms similar to Yammja, then the masses would be placated enough and not continue on the road to a more serious insurrection. Djeena was to convince Rufus of the advantages of moving toward a quasi-constitutional monarchy.

While Burke did not explain the exact nature of the potential new external threats to the Krowtonan Empire, he stressed that from here on out, the Krowtonan High Guard would no longer have the time or resources to help the local nobles fight their internal conflicts. High Guard units would be preoccupied on the borders and in various campaigns outside of Krowtonan space. Every fighting-capable Home Guard unit would also be called up into battle.

In addition, the local nobles would soon lose the ability to call upon Home Guard support units and use them in a battle capacity. This is what happened with Pow Gows and his brigade. They were a specialized brigade trained to fight forest fires and perform search and rescue after floods. Yet they were called up for riot control. Such a thing would no longer happen.

The changes to Krowtonan society would be slow and steady towards a less rigid class structure. There would still be nobles, but the gap between the top echelons and the bottom rungs would narrow. Getting rid of the internal class warfare would be the only way the Empire could remain stable enough to repel outside threats.

King Rufus was not pleased. But he would acquiesce to the Emperor's wishes.

* * *

"Skipper, you wanted to see me?" said Driver as he entered his captain's office.

"Yes," said Val. "Please, have a seat."

Staff Sergeant Driver took a seat, and could see that his captain was anxious.

"I have some disturbing news," said Val.

"Just rip the band-aid right off, sir," said Driver. "One quick motion."

"If we follow our route back to the Alpha quadrant, we will likely run into the Borg."

"I see…" said Driver.

"I'll still hold off for confirmation. Maybe there aren't that many of them. But chances are, they will be a significant roadblock."

"And you think we should take some massive detour?" asked Driver.

Val frowned.

"Unfortunately, I am weighing the options right now and it may well be that our safest option is to stay here in Delta."

Driver didn't have any visible reaction to that. His MARCOs were brave, willing to fight against incredible odds. At the same time, they weren't suicidal. If there was an opponent that was insurmountable, best to avoid it.

"Thoughts?" asked Val.

"Remember way back when we first tried to activate this ship? We were simply looking to get off _Voyager_," said Driver.

"Yea, seems like such a long time ago."

"Well, our back-up scenario was to simply find a nice habitable planet to spend out the rest of our lives. That's not a horrible plan B."

"Do you have any feeling of how many of your MARCOs would rather risk it and fly through Borg space than to give up on going home?"

"Not sure. To be honest, I'm not even sure about myself," said Driver. "But look. You make the decision, we'll accept it."

"Speak freely, do you think I'm a coward to not push through?"

"Honestly, there's a difference between being a coward and being realistic. You gave a fun lecture to Rufus the other day. But it was still on the mark. The MARCOs may thrive on overconfidence. But your responsibility includes their well-being. That means if a retreat is called for, you give that order. There's no honor in foolishly sending your men to their deaths."

There were several moments of silence as Val digested that.

"By the way," said Driver. "If you ever make King, I'll follow you and captain your guards. Otherwise, I'm settling down on Evansworld."

Driver thought he would have to settle down sooner or later. At least it would make his mother happy. She might even be a grandmother! She had wanted that for the past several years. Too bad, even if it happened, she would probably never know about it.

Val laughed. "You really think I'm going to declare myself the King of Olami Six?" Val asked.

"Well… You know… Djeena called off her marriage. For you."

"Nah," Val waved Driver off. "That was something else. When she did it, we were speeding in the direction out of Krowtonan Space."

"I'm telling you," insisted Driver. "I saw the way she looked at you at the conference planetside. Of course, you must've missed it, working so hard to avoid eye contact with her and all. What was with that?"

"With what? I wasn't trying to avoid her."

Driver gave Val a quizzical look.

"Look, there was an important debate going on. I wasn't trying to avoid her. I was probably just distracted."

"Well, go be with her."

"Even if I wanted, her people would never allow it," said a defeated Val.

"She's a strong one. She won't let her people control her."

"Yea…"

"To tell you the truth, she's kind of a …. overbearing."

Val chuckled. "Were you about to say a word that rhymes with witch?"

Driver smiled. "Maybe. Didn't want to offend your delicate sensitivities, you being a gentleman and all."

"She's hard to get. She's just trying hard to prove herself. Daddy wanted a boy. You know, that kind of thing."

"Well, she's decidedly a girl. Go be her prince," nudged Driver.

* * *

"You wished to speak with me, captain," said Kejal.

"Yes."

The two of them were in Val's quarters. Although informal, he wanted a private setting away from engineering or the bridge.

"I may soon decide that it is too dangerous to continue trekking across the Delta quadrant. The Borg-infested space on the other side of the Nekrit Expanse may be too much for the _Vetara_ to handle."

"I see," said Kejal.

"I realize that I am not a Cardassian. Nor can I order you to stay in this quadrant. But I do feel some responsibility for you. It may be safer if you stayed here in Delta. I consider you one of my trusted officers. I will leave it your decision whether you want to take the _Vetara_ back to Alpha yourself after we depart the ship."

"Why would you depart the _Vetara_?" asked Kejal. "You are her captain, and the _Vetara_ is your home. If you decide you want to stay in the Delta quadrant, then the _Vetara_ stays along with you."

"So, you'll stay here in Delta and just follow whoever is captain? I'll just hand down command and it'll keep going?"

"No," said Kejal. "Unfortunately, when you pass. The _Vetara_ will be captainless."

"Kejal, when I depart, the _Vetara_ will have a great captain," Val said. "She'll have you."


	11. Chapter 11 In Another Life

Chapter title: In Another Life

Posted May 2012

Author's note: Thanks to everyone for reading! And to those who have waiting, thanks for your patience. In my first ten chapters, I've tried not to mess too much with the time frames of the original timeline, but it looks like I'll have to stray a little bit. Hope the story remains enjoyable.

* * *

Six months after the events of Chapter 10

John Evans sat in his comfortable fluffy chair in the Executive Office and rested his head on his two hands, whose elbows had been resting on the mahogany-like desk. He was actually a little bored. With several months to go before the re-election, he was about to get an update on his main challengers' advertising campaigns against him. No doubt they would assail him with multiple ridiculous accusations.

Two of his campaign aides entered the oval-shaped office for his daily 9:20 politics briefing.

"Mr. Evans, sir," said the aide who walked in first.

"Jack. Tammy. Please have a seat."

The two aides sat down in the two soft leather chairs that were facing Evans. Evans had gotten up from behind his desk and the three of them sat down around a glass coffee table.

"How are the campaign preparations going?" asked Evans.

"Very well, sir," said Jack Summers.

"Duncan is going to be crushed," said a smiling Tammy Stackhouse.

Myles Duncan, the former chief of the Evansworld military had recently retired from the army so that he could run for the governorship himself.

"We have a bit of a surprise candidate appear in the mix," said Summers, he pulled out his new sleek EvansPad and started to bring up a file on the touchscreen. "I've never heard of this person before. I'm having my team run background on him as we speak. The most recent polling data that arrived just this morning included a somewhat popular write-in candidate who jumped right into second place. He seems to have come out of nowhere."

"Really?" said an intrigued Evans. "Someone else from the military? Or a local council official?"

"I think neither," said Summers. "A gentleman named Val Shin. Have you heard of him?"

Tammy Stackhouse shook her head.

Evans smiled. He was amused.

"We don't have to worry about him," said Evans. "He's not even from this planet. Though, I kind of wonder why people started writing him in."

"It was a strong block of people," said Jack. "The headlines in this morning's newsfeeds read 'Chief Duncan not a slam dunk; Shin-pressive runner-up in the polls.' The two of them are only a few percentage points apart. Given sampling errors, it's almost a dead heat."

"Those news reporters really have to stop it with the corny headlines," said Stackhouse.

"This newcomer is proving to be quite popular with the younger demographic," said Summers.

It wouldn't matter. The Evansworld Constitution clearly stated that the governor had to be a natural born citizen of the planet.

"Let's not worry about Shin for now. How are my favorables?" asked Evans.

"Polling pretty strong," said Summers. "You're at 63 percent favorable, and only 15 percent unfavorable. Looks like about 20 percent had no opinion."

"And you perform well across the board," said Stackhouse. "In all key demographic groups, you are above 50 percent favorable."

"Music to my ears," said Evans.

The Evansworld governor elections didn't involve political parties. It was usually a three round process. During the first round, each of Evansworld's 23 city mayors or town superintendents were allowed to nominate candidates to run for the governorship. Surprisingly, they rarely nominated themselves. The citizens of the planet could then vote for one of the nominees. There could be as many as 23, but there were often 10 or less. In the second round, the candidate field was narrowed to the top five vote recipients from the first round. The third and final round was between the top two from the second round. Whenever there was an incumbent running for re-election, that person would automatically advance to the third round and the second round would determine the sole challenger. There were two weeks between each round.

* * *

Val Shin arrived at a military base about an hour's drive northeast of Charleston, Evansworld's capital. Most of the populated suburbs that surrounded Charleston were to the West, Northwest, South, and Southeast. A large lake was directly to the East, and more rural agrarian settlements were to the North. Evansworld's main military base also bordered the Great Lake, and was connected to the capital by a highway which hugged the coastline.

Val stepped out of his vehicle and headed toward the main hangar. Nathan Driver and two Evansworld military officers met him outside of the entrance.

"Welcome to alpha site," said Lieutenant Commander Andrew Harrison. Val had met him a few times before. Harrison was one of Commodore McKnight's top aides.

The main hangar was the home of a few dozen new Krowtonan space fighter prototypes. Squadron Leader Nicolas Locarno and his wingmen had been training a new crop of pilots from Evansworld's military. Since the entire planet's population was only roughly 250,000, the military was relatively small. They had an Army of about 3000 and a Navy with a little over 2300 members. There was no Air Force, and the planet's pilots were either from the Army's Air battalion or the Naval Flight Wing.

In addition to the planned fighter squadrons, John Evans and his advisors had also decided to start building a defensive weapons platform in orbit. It would take over a year to complete.

"How is the flight training going?" asked Val.

"Very well," said Harrison. "We have trained 30 pilots already. The next batch of 30 is a little over halfway through their training.

The four of them walked through the vast hangar and then exited through the other side. Here, Val caught his first glimpse of the reason he was asked to visit alpha site. In the field between the large hangars stood three robot-like machines. Each about 13 feet tall, Val could see that the torso of each machine had a place for a human being to sit in. The machine basically served as an extension of the human operator. The human's legs would reach the robot's knees, and the human's hands would reach the robot's elbows.

"The Evansworld Defense Forces didn't really have any use for these particular Krowtonan prototypes," said Harrison. "It seems that the Krowtonan Home Guard was hoping to recruit some of us humans from Evansworld into operations on some of the Krowtonan planets that were facing domestic instabilities. They are having some manpower shortages. However, we don't have anyone to spare. One of the Home Guard officials sent us these exo-suits anyway. Said they were surplus."

"I thought it might be useful to train some of our MARCOs with these suits," said Driver.

Val nodded. "Have any of your men tried them out?" Val asked.

"Not yet. We were saving that for your glorious arrival," joked Driver. "We've read through the manuals and tried some simulations. But it'll be a huge adjustment once we get in those things. It should be an interesting several weeks."

"Thought you were going to retire from the MARCO business," said Val.

"I thought about it," said Driver. "But I guess a MARCO is who I am. In another life, I probably would've rather been a musician, or a sailor."

Val had almost forgotten. At some point in both his and Driver's childhoods, they wanted to be submariners. A few months ago, Val made the decision to stay in the Delta quadrant. All of the MARCOs had decided to settle on Evansworld. Over half of them made a transition to civilian life, but remained what Driver called the MARCO reserves in the event they were ever needed again. The other half stayed in uniform and trained alongside the Evansworld military for the time being.

Val himself shuttled back and forth between Evansworld's capital and meeting with Admiral Burke and other members of the Krowtonan High Guard. Preparations for stronger defense networks were ramping up in the event of eventual Borg incursions. He also spent some limited time on Yammja to check in on how the government there was adapting to constitutional reforms. It was a bumpy road.

"You think we'll need these exosuits in the near future?" asked Staff Sergeant Driver. He had heard rumors that Krowtonan High Guard was ramping up for battle in the coming months. Battle with adversaries who were physically larger than the typical human or Krowtonan. Much larger.

"I'm hoping not. The Krowtonan higher up mucky-mucks are all in frantic diplomatic negotiations with a couple of the races they've newly encountered from the other side of the Nekrit Expanse. I don't think the Krowtonan Empire survives if a new warfront opens up."

Driver sighed. He had been hoping for some semblance of normalcy.

"The good news is, if it can be called that, it seems the Hirogen wolfpacks may be dealing with other adversaries at this time and will not be looking to engage the Krowtonan," said Val.

"So what's the bad news?"

"The Hirogen are battling an unknown species which are also quite powerful. None of the Krowtonan scouts or early recon ships have identified this mysterious alien race, but the rumors are that they are a substantial force."

"Borg?" asked Driver

"No. A different race. Biological. Larger. Rumors are that they are tripeds. Roughly 10 feet tall. Very muscular."

"I see."

Val watched the MARCOs' initial testing of the suits. Their movements weren't fluid. But in time, Val believed the MARCOs would get used to the suits. He just hoped that the suits would not be necessary.

After about an hour, the MARCOs exited the suits for some rest. Val thought they did a good job getting used to controlling the limbs of the robotic suits. They hadn't quite mastered walking yet.

"It was great seeing you again, Nathan," said Val. He rarely addressed the staff sergeant by his first name.

"Good to see you as well, skipper," said Driver. "Heading back to the capital?"

"Off-world," said Val.

"Crisis on Yammja?"

"Isn't there always?"

The two of them parted ways and Val hopped back into his military-loaned vehicle. He sped away back to the spaceport.

* * *

"We cannot keep going down this road," insisted the lead foreman of one of Yammja's largest factories. He had been the chosen representative to speak with the ministers of labor and industry at the Yammja Palace of Public Appeals. It was a new forum designed to give the citizenry a chance to voice their concerns to the ruling elites. While the appeals were tightly controlled, it was still viewed as a fair system.

Shi Lis and Shi Vock had been listening to testimony for the past two hours. This was not an easy policy matter.

New technological advances were proving to be a great boon for the productivity of almost all sectors of the Yammja economy. Artificial intelligence and newly dexterous robots meant that much of the planet's workforce was recently displaced from their jobs. Some of the regional governors had implemented executive orders to block many of the businesses in their jurisdictions from wholesale layoffs of their workers. There was pushback from the business owners themselves, who argued that they could not compete with other planets if they were to remain hamstrung by high labor costs.

At the end of the five hour session, the two ministers decided to adjourn and reconvene a week later. The Queen had also been in attendance, and was dismayed at the potential implications of this policy decision. For now, the regional governors' injunctions would stand. Business owners were blocked from replacing their workers with robots.

Queen Djeena retired to a lavish conference room, followed by several aides. Along with her were Shis Lis and Vock, the two ministers with authority over the policies in question. In addition, she also invited the minister of public welfare and the minister of public protection. As the lead foreman had testified to hours earlier, this issue threatened to spark massive protests and even riots if the business owners were allowed to carry out their plans.

"This day has been coming for a while. We all knew something like this would happen," said Shi Vock, the Minister of Industry. "Technological advances in other alien societies that we've encountered had suggested that physical labor would decrease in necessity."

"But this came too fast," insisted Shi Lis, the Minister of Labor. "We needed time to adjust to this. The innovations arrived in a near simultaneous fashion. Where are all of these people supposed to go? What are they supposed to do?"

Shi Jovar, the Minister of Social Welfare was very concerned. His government agency was not equipped to handle a potential massive influx of citizens onto the safety net programs the government only recently developed. In fact, it was already overburdened with the current aid requirements. Any additional influx would bankrupt the system.

Shi Zend, the Minister of Internal Security and Protective Services was also slightly concerned.

"We'd have to call up all of our auxiliaries," said Zend. "But I think we'd be able to manage. The question is, how long would our forces hold up? Sooner or later, I predict some of them would defect."

"Would they?" asked Djeena. She was disgusted at the possibility that any of her forces would betray her.

"Reluctantly, yes," replied Zend. "Perhaps not many, but some. These displaced workers have families. There will be a remarkable amount of sympathy for their plight. The longer it draws out, the more likely defections would occur."

The cabinet ministers sat silently as the Queen thought through the situation.

"There have been worker displacements in the past," said Shi Lis after a few minutes of silence. "We've been able to handle them when they are introduced into the economy slowly. A century and a half ago, the majority of our people were farmers. Now, less than 10% are. Creative destruction has always been a part of the system. Some jobs die off, but new ones come in. There's just a lag between those two. We need time to transition. We can't have such a simultaneous spike across all sectors."

"Majesty," said Shi Vock. "I do not wish to be overly pessimistic about this, but I do not think this new technological revolution will bear any resemblance to past innovations. There will not be any new jobs to replace the old ones. At least, nowhere near enough. And we will never be able to stop the tech. We might slow it down a little bit, but we will eventually reach a society where physical labor is obsolete. We should take this as an opportunity to create a roadmap for the future."

After about 30 more minutes of discussion, the Queen's top advisors called it a day. It was getting late, and it would be best if they rested up. Tomorrow might prove to be as complicated a day as the one that was about to end.

* * *

"The Hirogen Supreme Alpha appears to be eager to formalize a non-aggression pact," said Burke.

"That's a good sign," commented Val.

"Well, maybe," said a hesitant Burke. "Or maybe it's an indication of just how tough the other potential threats out there are."

Nevertheless, Burke would be satisfied for now. He was in relatively constant communication with the First Fleet Lord. He and the Emperor's Principal Minister for External Relations had been negotiating with the Supreme Alpha of the Hirogen for the past few weeks. Things looked promising and the Krowtonan were hoping to avoid conflicts between the two fleets.

"You're such a downer," said Val.

"How are things on Evansworld?" asked Burke.

"Okay, I think. I'm in transit right now to Yammja."

"Again? Just forget about that headache," said Burke. "I heard that Governor Evans might want to tap you for one of his high executive positions."

"Really?" asked a surprised Val. "I didn't hear about it. I doubt it though. It's not like the two of us are buddies."

"All right. If I hear any new news about the Hirogen or Governor Evans, I'll let you know. Burke out."

The screen blinked off and Val walked out of the gul's office and back onto _Vetara_'s bridge.

* * *

On Yammja, Char Sardu, the leader of the Home Guard contingent, greeted Val. Although he had not performed very well during the rebel uprising, he was not demoted. His immediate superior in the Krowtonan Home Guard was an understanding and patient official. His force was cut in half, but Sardu and his small force of roughly 50 troops were left stationed on Yammja. Although the typical battalion was much larger than 50 or even 100, Sardu's battalion was now composed of three special crisis response units. The main specialty of two of those teams was explosives defusion while the third team specialized in hazardous materials containment. Val hoped that Sardu's men did not have occasion to exercise their unique talents.

"Jang Shin," said Sardu as he put his right fist to his heart, the typical Krowtonan salute. "I hope you are well."

"I am. How are you and your men?"

"We are well, thank you," said Sardu. He then gave a short briefing regarding the potential flare-up of chaos that might occur on Yammja. As with the rebellion, Sardu's men were not equipped or trained to assist in such situations.

"Shi Zend is hoping there won't be too much trouble," continued Sardu.

After meeting briefly with Sardu, Val left the Home Guard sub-station and headed to the Yammjan Hall of Justice. He had another brief meeting with Jarett Gronski and a couple of the Queen's Ministers. Val's life was becoming a blur of endless meetings.

* * *

Jack Summers sat with his assistant, Tammy, and awaited Governor Evans' arrival. The governor was running behind at least 20 minutes.

The two of them stood from their seats when Evans finally entered the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting guys, how are things?"

"Not bad," said Summers.

"How are the challenger sweepstakes looking?"

"Myles Duncan still appears to be the presumptive challenger," said Summers.

"But this Shin person seems to have solid support in at least two regions, both outlying. Shin Hawaii and New Aspen. Hawaii is probably because of the quirk with his name. Not sure why Aspen. He has tied Duncan in two of the suburb regions, but that is overshadowed by Duncan's large lead in the ten districts of Capital City," said Stackhouse.

"Shin's lead in Aspen is especially surprising. He's polling at least 2 to 1. Newsfeed headline from the last poll in the local Aspen news was 'Shin-credible challenge to presumptive challenger Duncan.' They've got some type of fever going up there," said Summers.

Evans took it in stride. He knew what was happening.

"Shin likes to ski up there," said Evans.

"I thought you said he was rarely on planet?" asked Summers. Summers and Stackhouse were not completely aware of Shin's movements on Evansworld. They were always highly classified for planetary security reasons. Or, at least, that was the reason the information was blocked from the public. Summers would make it a point to ask Evans for a higher security clearance, if only on the topic of Val Shin.

"He is."

"But he's seemingly here enough to make an impression," said Stackhouse.

"I doubt he's even been to Hawaii two times. For them, it's more likely an ethnic thing. Shin is half Asian, on his father's side."

"Don't discount that," said Summers. "It's a powerful thing. Identity politics is one of those things that push people over the top in close races."

"But this isn't close, is it?" asked Evans. By now, he was starting to get annoyed. This race better not be close. He didn't hire these PR guys just to feed him information. They were supposed to be out there shaping public opinion in his favor.

* * *

"It's easy for you to criticize when you're not the one in charge. Provide me with solutions or shut up!"

"Just because I'm not in charge doesn't mean I can't point out the flaws in what you are doing. Or not doing. And just because I don't know the solution doesn't mean I can't point out that a solution is necessary. You are the leader, coming up with the solution is your responsibility. And if you can't do it alone, that's understandable. Get your advisers to help you and work this out as a team. Get your butts in gear and do something."

Djeena and Val had been arguing for several minutes now. Several very long and intense minutes. The cabinet ministers were in a little bit of paralysis and decided to not do anything and try to ride out the storm. The workers were getting more and more agitated. This wasn't going to end well if there wasn't a course correction.

"The advisers are in agreement," said Djeena. "There is nothing we can do. What would you have us do? Turn back time? Stop innovation in its tracks? Automation had been foreseen for many years. Decades even. There's no turning this back. The populace will have to learn to adjust."

"They'll learn to adjust while starving? While you elites are in your palaces, telling them to eat cake?"

Djeena was a little confused by the reference, but she was adamant. The ruling class on Yammja would stay course. This would all work itself out.

"I want to be clear here," said Val. "There will be no back-up. Nobody will be riding to the rescue. This comes straight from the Emperor and the Fleet Lords. You get a rebellion and they come to guillotine you, you're dealing with it alone. There are higher priority threats that the Krowtonan High Guard is dealing with right now. Burke is washing his hands of this whole fiasco. The diplomats have already secured new alliances with other planets. The minerals and resources that Yammja used to provide can be found elsewhere. If you guys become enough of a nuisance, Burke will just glass your entire planet and warp away."

"You promised you would protect me!" said Djeena.

"The best I can do now is evacuate you if this thing reaches a boiling point. It's all out of my hands now."

* * *

"What did you say about my captain?" asked Corporal Lorenzo Rodriguez.

He was in a bar in Capital City when he overhead someone insult Captain Shin.

A man slightly bigger than Rodriguez was now face to face with the young corporal.

"I called him a mutt. What of it?"

A bartender and a bouncer came over and separated the two of them.

"Guys, we don't want any trouble here," said the bartender.

Lucas van der Hoeven walked over to his friend Lorenzo and pulled him away from the situation.

"Zo, let's just get out of here," he suggested.

Even in Capital City, Val Shin's popularity was climbing for being the challenger to John Evans for the governorship. There was even talk of quickly amending the Evansworld Constitution to allow for an alien born human to qualify. Thus far, a strong majority of the council of mayors had opposed such an amendment.

As Val's popularity rose, so did opposition. Most of the opposition rested on the fact that he was alien born. For a small sliver of people, his race was a factor. Just as Val's heritage made him an attractive person to root for in the minds of some of Evansworld's citizens, it had the opposite effect on some. Even after a few centuries, the races of Evansworld were not always entirely cohesive.

* * *

"Welcome aboard the _Vetara_," said Val.

He had left Yammja a day ago and the _Vetara_ was now flying in formation with the _Solstice_'s battle group. Although the _Vetara_ remained outside of the Krowtonan High Guard Fleet, it was an allied vessel and the second most advanced starship on the Krowtonan side, after the _Solstice_. A Hirogen delegation had wished to visit it, after having seen the _Solstice_ several times.

The Hirogen High Alpha acknowledged Val, but did not speak.

The various species of the Delta Quadrant tended to call the Hirogen a word similar to "wolfpack." The Hirogen were hunters of alien species and typically hunted in packs. They did not typically make allies, but this was the first time in their history that they faced an enemy too formidable to fend off alone.

The Hirogen towered above the humans. They wore metallic suits of armor and even armored gloves.

"The Krowtonan call me Karr," said the High Alpha. Val surmised that the Hirogen themselves did not call this person Karr. But Val didn't want to be rude, and went with how Karr introduced himself.

The Hirogen were a mostly nomadic species but there were three areas of high concentration, which were called "clusters." Karr was the leader of one of these three clusters. The organization structure seemed to be hunting party, then pack, then cluster. The rank hierarchy was relatively simple. The Supreme Alpha sat at the top of the Hirogen. The entire race was sometimes called a super-cluster or a super-pack. There were three High Alphas, one for each cluster, and then Alphas that lead each pack. The Alphas typically had a lieutenant, known as a Beta. Some Alphas also had another senior hunter called a Gamma, sometimes known as a lone wolf, who acted as a forward scout to hunt for new prey. Young hunters in training were sometimes called Omegas. The rest of the Hirogen were called Hunters, and sometimes the other Delta Quadrant species called them wolves.

Karr seemed to be relatively satisfied by his tour of the _Vetara_. One of the last areas he would visit was engineering. There, he turned decidedly less satisfied.

"What is this?" asked Karr, seemingly a little agitated.

Val wasn't entirely sure what Karr was referring to.

After a few seconds, Karr could see that nobody understood what he meant. He pointed to Kejal, who was now standing near her captain.

"Her," said Karr. "I assume she's a her. I can't smell her."

Val was still a little bit confused. "How is that different from anyone else?" he asked.

Karr gave a quick laugh. "You, human, are one of the most pungent prey imaginable. Perhaps not you specifically, but as a race, I could smell you a ketric away."

A ketric was a Hirogen unit of distance.

"Why does this matter?" asked Burke.

"If I can't smell her, then she doesn't exist," said Karr. "We Hirogen have very acute senses. This must be some sort of mirage."

Val tried to explain.

"This is Kejal. She's a hologram."

"What's a hologram?" asked Karr.

It took several minutes for the Starfleet officers to explain to Karr the basic concept behind a hologram. Luckily, Ensign Gilmore was there to explain some of the more technical aspects.

"This is highly unusual," said Karr. "I do not trust this hologram." He said the word hologram in a somewhat condescending tone.

"And she is your second-in-command?" asked Karr. The question was directed at Val.

"I guess you would call her my Beta onboard the _Vetara_," said Val.

"I think you should pick another Beta," said Karr. "I do not like this."

"I'm not asking you to like this," said Val, defensively. "This is my ship, and it's my call. She's my beta."

Although Val wasn't great at reading a Hirogen's facial expressions, he knew full well that Karr was annoyed. But eventually, Karr walked away from engineering and the group continued the tour of the ship.

* * *

One month later.

"How is your captain faring, sergeant?" asked Queen Djeena.

"He's hanging in there," said Nathan Driver.

Djeena just arrived on Evansworld.

After finalizing a non-aggression pact with the Hirogen, Burke was notified that one of the Hirogen's hubs in their vast web of communications networks had been accessed by the _U.S.S. Voyager_. It appears that _Voyager_ accessed the Hirogen network in order to send their holographic doctor across the galaxy to the _U.S.S. Prometheus_. There, he reported to Starfleet Command that _Voyager_ had been whisked away to the Delta Quadrant and was slowly making its way back.

A few days after that incident, the Hirogen realized that the _U.S.S. Solstice_ was a part of the same Starfleet that _Voyager_ belonged to. The Hirogen decided to allow Admiral Burke to also contact Starfleet Command.

By the time Burke was able to make contact with the edge of the Alpha Quadrant, the _Prometheus_ had already left. However, he was able to make contact with a small science vessel that was dispatched to the area to investigate the communications array. It was accompanied by two escorts. _Voyager_ would soon be notified of the existence of the _Solstice_ and her alliance with the Krowtonan.

More importantly, a lot had changed in the short time that _Voyager_ and the _Solstice_ were carried away to the Delta Quadrant. The Federation was now at war with an entity in the Gamma Quadrant which called itself the Dominion. Cardassia went through a brief war with the Klingons and then was forced to ally itself with the Dominion. The Obsidian Order collapsed after a failed joint attempt with the Tal Shiar to destroy the Dominion homeworld. The Maquis outlaws were completely wiped out.

On a personal front, Val was dealt with two significant blows. A former colleague and close friend of his, an Orion named Navaar, had perished in a Dominion attack on Federation outposts close to the Bajoran wormhole. Affecting him more, Val's younger brother Whitford had gone missing. The Ferenginar Reserve Bank had been implicated in bankrolling a mysterious Federation agency that was allegedly a junior partner to the Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order alliance which attempted to kill off the Founders. As revenge, the Dominion quickly dispatched all those involved. Whitford Shin was on a heavily armored transport returning to Federation space when it was attacked.

The last time Djeena and Val were face to face, they had an awful argument. Like her cousin, King Rufus, Djeena had called Val a hypocrite. The circumstances were different, but the general concept was the same. Rufus disliked how Val seemed to have unquestioned authority over his MARCOs, and yet would not allow him, a King no less, to hold unquestioned authority over units of the Krowtonan Home Guard. Djeena took issue with the fact that Val insisted that automated systems should not be allowed to perform the jobs of large portions of the Yammjan population, yet Val himself relied on an automated hologram as his chief engineer and even had an automated medic from time to time. Val tried to explain that he wasn't against advanced technology as a concept, but that steps would need to be taken to ensure that the rest of her subjects were taken care of. The two of them parted while furious at each other.

Driver escorted Djeena to the door of Val's quarters at Alpha site. Although they were the nicest V.I.P. quarters on base, fit for a general or admiral, they were still relatively modest.

"Will you allow me to enter without waking him?" asked Djeena.

Driver wasn't completely sure how to approach this situation. He typically did not allow such a security lapse, but he knew that Djeena and Val were close, despite their frequent arguments. He knew she wouldn't harm him. After a few seconds of thought, he nodded his assent. The lone MARCO trooper guarding the door stood at attention as Djeena walked into Val's quarters.

Val was still asleep. This being a VIP quarters, the bed was slightly bigger than the usual bunk at the military base. It wasn't quite Queen sized, but it was close. The room wasn't luxurious, but it wasn't Spartan either. Djeena sat down on the bed, sitting upright against the wall. Sitting next to Val, she played with his hair a little bit. Then she just sat there and rested. She remembered that when she was a young girl, her mother would sit with her in a similar way as Djeena slept. It made Djeena feel safe and protected. She wanted Val to feel the same way.

* * *

War.

War was brewing everywhere. The potential civil war on Yammja. The inter-quadrant war between the Alpha Quadrant powers and the Dominion. The potential inter-dimensional war that the Borg stoked with an alien species they labeled 8472.

During the past month, Val digested all possible kinds of intelligence reports. Djeena had stayed with him for a couple of days, but then had to return to Yammja to guide her cabinet's handling of the labor situation. They would try to ensure a stronger safety net for the displaced workers as their jobs became automated. The decision wasn't without detractors. Those who remained in the workforce objected to their unproductive brethren receiving handouts. Those whose jobs were eliminated decried having to downshift from the standard of living they were formerly accustomed to. It would take a lot of adjustment for everyone.

Val's attention was almost entirely caught between the war in the Alpha Quadrant, and the possible war in the Delta Quadrant. He often wondered whether he could have possibly made a difference in the Dominion War had he somehow stayed in the Alpha Quadrant. The likely answer was no. But he would always wonder.

Meanwhile, in the Delta Quadrant, Species 8472 seemed to be making incursions and destroying Borg ships at will. There had also been minor skirmishes between 8472 and the Hirogen, and now it was feared the Krowtonan would be the next targets. This on top of the uneasy truce that the Krowtonan had with the Hirogen and the Borg.

Two additional distractions were most unwelcome. The first was the infighting amongst Evansworld's political leaders. While a majority of them refused to allow Val Shin even a remote possibility of appearing on the ballot to become the challenger for the Governorship, an adamant minority demanded the change to the Constitution. Val had to convince the leaders of Shin Hawaii and Aspen, and some of the local businessmen of Capital City, that he had no intention of running for Governor of Evansworld, even if there were to be a Constitutional Amendment. If nominated, he would not run. If elected, he would not serve. While disappointed, Val's faction eventually acquiesced.

The second distraction came from the Alpha Quadrant. Starfleet's Judge Advocate General, Vice Admiral James Matthews, instructed Val to write up reports for all of the maquis members of Janeway's crew on _Voyager_. When Starfleet Command finally made contact with Janeway, she insisted that the maquis members of her crew be granted pardons. Starfleet JAG started that process, but required Val to sign off. Val refused, pointing out that he did not really know any of the fugitive's files. JAG then sent him all the relevant files. He got buried in paperwork.

"None approved?" asked Admiral Matthews, a few days after Val reviewed the files.

"That's correct, sir."

Matthews couldn't say that he wasn't expecting this. He already had several of his JAG prosecutors back in the Alpha Quadrant review the files, and the pardons were all denied. He didn't tell Val about that, and he had been hoping that perhaps Val, with his experience of having actually met the maquis members face to face, might come to a different conclusion.

Val heard the admiral sigh in defeat. The only silver lining Matthews saw was that Val approved of Tom Paris' reinstatement into Starfleet. A mere rubber stamp, but an important one. No doubt Starfleet Command would have overruled Val if the recommendation were otherwise, if only as a favor to Admiral Owen Paris.

"Perhaps you can have someone at JAG HQ or the JAG branch office responsible for the Bajor sector take a look. They may be more amenable. I must admit I have not had positive personal interactions with members of the maquis. I believe I've made impartial conclusions, but you never know," said Val.

"They've all previously rejected the pardon requests," said Matthews.

Val was slightly annoyed. He didn't like being used as a workaround.

"I've noticed you are wearing two rank pips on your collar," said Matthews, wanting to change the subject.

Val nodded. "Yes, sir." He had been wearing four before, but he now felt that it was possibly inappropriate. During Val's first vid-conference with the admiral, he could tell the admiral wasn't completely comfortable with Val wearing four rank pips.

"Do me a favor, put on a third pip," said the admiral.

"Sir?" asked Val.

"I know you heard what I just said. I've pushed you for Vice Captain. You're the top JAG officer of the Delta Quadrant, I figure you deserved a rank higher than Lieutenant."

"Sir…" said Val, a little surprised. "Thank you, sir."

The admiral waved the gratitude away. "Just don't let it get to your head okay?"

"Yes, sir."

The admiral scrolled through a matrix of Val's pardon decisions. Dozens and dozens of denials. But two were not.

"Can you further elaborate on why you recused yourself from deciding on a Karen DuPont?" he asked.

"We were friends from law school," said Val.

"A lawyer? She's a maquis outlaw?" wondered Matthews.

"It's a long story. She's not really a member. I guess you could say she was affiliated in a way."

"I'll have someone else review her file more thoroughly. And… Chakotay. That surprises me. No recommendation for either denial or approval."

"Right," said Val. "Janeway pushed very hard for him. I read her reports. She's genuine in her assessment. And I do recall that he almost sacrificed his own life in order to ram his maquis raider into the Kazon mothership, thus giving _Voyager_ a chance to survive. It was an act worthy of pardon consideration."

"Then why isn't he pardoned?" asked the admiral.

"Because the charges against him are serious. Very serious."

"But you're not denying?"

"His file appears incomplete. He's accused of causing the deaths of multiple Starfleet personnel. There's no evidence in the file that he actually caused any such event."

"It says he commanded men who were directly responsible for attacks on the Federation. You know the law; this is the captain of the ship doctrine. He's responsible for his people," said the admiral.

"Right, but there's no evidence that he had control, influence, or even contact with the people involved. He's suspected by Starfleet Security as being the commander, but the file is heavily redacted. I couldn't access the information. I can't make a proper determination without that information. If the charges are warranted, I most certainly would not pardon him."

Admiral Matthews grew a little curious about the circumstances. There must have been ample evidence against Chakotay though. Starfleet would not have sent an Intrepid-class ship to chase him down if he were simply a trivial nuisance. Matthews made a note to follow up.

"Chakotay is still charged with treason. He abandoned his uniform and took up arms against the Federation. That's not a charge to take lightly. In short, if the captain of the ship charges didn't exist, then I might consider the pardon in light of the man's honorable actions in saving _Voyager_. Maybe. But I guess you can weigh his actions and decide for yourself. I won't make a recommendation one way or the other," said Val.

"Thank you for your candor, Counselor Shin," said Admiral Matthews. "Now, as I understand it, there are orders from Starfleet Command to free you of your JAG duties for the next few weeks. You and Burke are writing up a mission for an incursion into fluidic space?"

"Yes, Admiral Burke and the Krowtonan," Val was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"_Admiral_ Burke," said Matthews, with a hint of anger. "I've got to say, counselor, it bothers me that you guys over there all promoted yourselves. Admiral Burke, Captain Riker, Captain Shin, Lieutenant Paris, Vice Captain Chakotay, Lieutenant Sito. I'm surprised Janeway hasn't promoted her tactical officer to Vulcan subcommander."

Val wasn't entirely sure how to respond, and just remained silent.

Matthews gave another sigh of exasperation.

"Well, Vice Captain Shin. I wish you safety on your scouting mission to the fluidic dimension. Matthews out."

Val's screen blinked off and Val thought about the Alpha Quadrant for a minute before turning back to the engineering reports of the power levels necessary to open a gateway to fluidic space.

* * *

After a month of careful planning, the mission was finalized. It gained approval from Starfleet Command. Burke would lead a small joint fleet into fluidic space and scout for the 8472 homeworld. The fleet would be a mix of Hirogen, Krowtonan and Starfleet. Peace negotiations were the goal. The Krowtonan and Starfleet now believed a massive misunderstanding occurred with regard to 8472. Previously, they believed that 8472 had intentions of wiping out all life in the Delta Quadrant and maybe even in the Alpha Quadrant. It was subsequently discovered that the Borg initiated the confrontation and 8472 may have no interest in striking the Federation or the Delta Quadrant. But there needed to be communication. Thus far, bioships from fluidic space would cross into our dimension, attack, and then cross back. There was no opportunity to engage in dialogue.

The fleet was being prepared. Before the mission, all of the officers and crew were given a week off. A little bit of relaxation would help them perform better when the time came. Val took a trip to Aspen one last time. He wouldn't ski. He just relaxed. Djeena joined him in the town. While Evansworld hadn't seen many aliens in their history, in the recent months, there were numerous Krowtonan who visited the planet. The people of Evansworld were getting used to it.

Val and Djeena walked through a quaint open air marketplace near the center of Aspen. Just a few blocks from the city hall. The two of them were not holding hands, but people could tell that they were most likely a couple.

Val stopped by one of the booths and picked up two small figures, about 3 inches tall. They were a boy and a girl, seemingly in hockey uniforms, with ice skates on. The uniform belonged to the Aspen Angels, the local hockey team.

"This one loves his trinkets," said Djeena to the woman behind the table of small figures.

"In their hearts, all men are young boys," said the woman.

"I'd bet he be even more excited if those were superheroes on ice skates," said Djeena.

The woman laughed.

"You know," said Val. "I'm standing right here."

Djeena reached into a small pouch to grab some coins, but the woman waved her off.

"Your money's no good here," said the woman. She plucked the two toys from Val's hand.

Val was a little confused, as was Djeena. The woman then put the two figures in a small plastic bag and handed it to Val.

"I know who you are," said the woman with a smile. "You know, I would have voted for you."

Val smiled. He wanted to pay, but the woman insisted. The only thing she settled for was to shoot an image of her with her preferred governor candidate.

Val and Djeena left the booth slightly amused. Val was a celebrity!

* * *

Kejal materialized in the gul's quarters onboard the _Vetara_. These were Val's quarters. She intended for them to stay that way.

Val and Djeena were laying in bed, and Kejal's appearance startled them for a second. The two of them had spent the entire day walking around Aspen and only arrived onboard the _Vetara_ a few hours ago. Prior to entering his quarters, Val had spoken to Kejal in private about the _Vetara_'s future. Val believed that Kejal should be the _Vetara_'s new captain. The Obsidian Order was no more. As such, the alliance between the Obsidian Order and Section 31 no longer existed. What's more, Cardassia seems to now be at war with the Federation. It may be inappropriate for a human to command a Cardassian warship. Val offered to cede command to Kejal. Admiral Burke already lined up the Dauntless-class _U.S.S. Resolute_ for Val to command in the event he needed a ship. The _Resolute_ wasn't a true Starfleet vessel, but it mimicked one very well. And she needed a captain. Val asked Kejal to think about it overnight and they would talk about it next morning. Apparently, Kejal didn't want to wait.

"I believe it would be in both of our best interests for you to remain the captain of this ship," said Kejal, getting straight to the point.

"Okay," said Val. "And you believe Cardassian Central Command would have no issues with that?"

"The _Vetara_ doesn't belong to Central Command. She is a ship of the Obsidian Order."

"Which no longer exists," said Val.

"True, but the Cardassian Detapa Council is above Central Command in hierarchy. There are rumors that remnants of the council are forming a rebellion against the Dominion allied Cardassian government. The rumors even include an alliance with the Federation. As such, I do not believe it is necessarily wrong for you to continue on as captain."

Val wanted to agree with Kejal, but before he could speak, she continued on.

"In addition," said Kejal. "I believe that the mission into fluidic space has implications for all alien races of the Alpha Quadrant. If 8472 are indeed under a false understanding that all the races of this dimension are at war with fluidic space, it is important to straighten out that misunderstanding."

Val waited a few moments to make sure that Kejal was done.

"I agree," said Val. "Now, if you'll leave my quarters, it's half past midnight."

He threw a pillow at Kejal. She smiled, and then her program de-materialized.

* * *

Loyalty. The humans had it in spades. It was one of the many things that piqued Q's curiosity. Burke commanded unquestioning loyalty from the _Solstice_ crew. Riker, Sito, Gilmore. They would all follow him to certain death. Val Shin commanded the loyalty of his people as well. The Cardassian hologram Kejal's main reason for insisting on Val retaining captainship was that she felt Val was loyal to her and the biotech hologram Zet. Val had defended her in front of the Hirogen. Val had defended Zet to Janeway. Val earned her loyalty. Although the holograms were programmed to obey lawful orders, they understood the concept of loyalty.

People didn't always follow the strongest or the smartest. One would think survival instincts would lead soldiers to pick leaders who were the most capable. But soldiers fought on emotion and believed in naïve principles. There was something to be said for chemistry. For togetherness. Confidence. Attitude.

Despite himself, Q hoped these humans wouldn't perish in fluidic space. Although, a battle there would be quite fun to watch.

* * *

The next morning, Val was awakened by a chirp from his combadge. Sergeant Driver notified him that he had a hail from the Krowtonan High Guard.

"Burke?" asked Val, slurring his speech a little bit because he was still a half asleep.

"No, sir. It's Jang Font."

"Font?" wondered Val. She no longer had any involvement with the _Vetara_'s current mission. He tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen of his EvansPadd and the video chat came through.

"Hi Val!" said a cheery Jang Font.

"Hey," said Val, still a little groggy.

"Sorry to wake you," said Font. Then, she got a little more serious. "I heard a rumor. Are you crossing the threshold?"

It took a second for Val to realize she was asking if he was on the mission to cross into fluidic space. He nodded.

"I've heard those monsters can be quite brutal" she said. She also typed in a frowny face emoticon which appeared in the text box under her image.

"That's okay. Hopefully we can work something out."

"Eternal optimist."

"Eh. I'm one when the situation calls for it. It's a survival skill."

"Stay safe Val!"

"No worries, I plan to live… if only to die another day."

Font waved goodbye, and then her image blinked off.

* * *

"You believe in alternate universes, right Val?" asked Djeena.

Val nodded. "I believe they're possible."

"Do you ever wonder whether we'd be together in a different universe?"

"Didn't we go over this kind of stuff the first night we stayed in the Evansworld Executive Mansion?"

The two of them had talked about their destiny, whether Val believed in such a thing. But they never talked about alternate universes.

Djeena rested her head on Val's shoulder, and Val held Djeena one last time before she was to be beamed back to the _Phooson_. The _Vetara_ would soon join the rest of Burke's battle group while the _Phooson_ returned to Yammja.

"In another life, I would make you stay," said Djeena. She wished she had the strength to force Val to stay on this side of the dimensional gateway. She wanted him to be safe.

Val stayed silent. He knew that Djeena was worried for him, but he also knew that the 8472 mission was extremely important. The two of them kissed and then Queen Djeena was beamed off the _Vetara_.

* * *

"Last chance to abort this whole adventure," said Nathan Driver. "You can go back to Aspen and ski. Or hang out with your princess girlfriend. I can lay in the sandy beaches, or prowl the open seas of Evansworld in a fishing boat. That would be a fun life."

Val and Driver were sharing breakfast together. Val invited Kejal to join, even though she didn't eat. The fleet would be jumping across the dimensional gateway later in the afternoon. Everyone was in good spirits. The latest reports from the Alpha Quadrant weren't as grim as expected. Starfleet was successfully repelling new Dominion attacks. Driver's cousins had evacuated to a safer planet. Val's brother was still missing, but thus far, no debris from the armed transport was found, and Starfleet had hopes that the transport simply landed at nearby planet and went into hiding. Whitford was a survivor, Val knew he'd make it through. Even Captain Thomas William Riker was in an upbeat mood. His "twin," the first officer of the _U.S.S. Enterprise-E_, was faring well and happy that Thomas found his niche over in the Delta Quadrant. Thomas had felt a little lost career-wise and identity-wise while in the Alpha Quadrant, but after getting marooned in the Delta Quadrant, Thomas found himself and now had a decent relationship with his twin.

For the 8472 mission, everything was ready to go. All the MARCOs had been recalled to the _Vetara_, along with a handful of the exo-suit mechs. Even though about half of the MARCOs had started to live out their lives as civilians down on Evansworld, they had stayed in the reserve force and were actually a little excited to have a new mission. Civilian life was a little bit boring.

After breakfast, the _Vetara_ traveled for about an hour and rendezvoused with the rest of Burke's battle group. Val beamed over to the _Solstice_ for one last captain's meeting before the ships crossed over. Four humans, three Krowtonan, two Hirogen. Before Val walked into the _Solstice_'s conference room, Burke stopped him a minute.

"Hold still for a few seconds will you?" said Burke.

Burke pinned a fourth rank pip on Val's collar and then tapped Val on the side of his right shoulder.

"When we cross over, you're my second-in-command," said Burke. "You're a full captain. Starfleet will get over it."

* * *

Val sat in the command chair on the bridge of the _Vetara_. Driver and Kejal were both present, as were two MARCO troopers standing guard. The _Solstice_ battle group was ready to launch.

"Gateway established," reported Kejal. "Ships are holding. Awaiting orders from the _Solstice_."

Burke wanted to confirm that the gateway remained stable before sending any ships through. After 30 seconds, he gave the order for the ships to cross over. Two at a time, the ships crossed the threshold into fluidic space.


	12. Chapter 12 In Disguise

Chapter 12: In Disguise

Posted: October 29, 2012

* * *

"Captain on the bridge!"

Driver was seated at the weapon's officer's console, but the two MARCO troopers standing guard stiffened to attention. Kejal remained standing in her normal pose. One new crewman had been crouching beside a panel, but stood to attention.

"As you were" said Val as he walked onto _Vetara_'s bridge.

"Another fine day in fun fluidic space," said Driver as he got up to hand Val a report on an EvansPad. The report contained all of the happenings, or, more precisely, non-happenings throughout the flotilla.

It had been over a month since the Allied Flotilla entered fluidic space. In that time, the ships had made very little progress. After a couple of days in fluidic space, the Krowtonan High Guard sent in an additional ship, as did the Hirogen. They barely made it through the threshold before the gateway collapsed.

"London Bridge has fallen down," came the announcement from the _Solstice_ at the time. Val thought it was a little lame that they used secretive code to transmit throughout the flotilla. It was done so that intercepted messages would be harder to understand. But really, were they necessary?

One of the new arrivals was an intriguing addition. The Krowtonan had managed to commandeer a Kazon carrier ship and was now using it to carry Krowtonan fighter craft. They sent it to fluidic space almost immediately after they staffed it. In addition to Krowtonan pilots, there were also a few Evansworld pilots onboard.

Val had asked Burke and Commodore McKnight whether they could spare any crewmen to help staff the _Vetara_. The answer was basically no, although Minister Larkin pulled two members of his auxiliary fleet floating hq and lent them to Val. Val had asked for engineering crewmen as first priority. Larkin sent him Electrician's Mate 2nd class Janet Bonaventura and Damage Controlman Apprentice Solomon Dickinson. Val figured Larkin had simply picked the people with the longest names on his list.

Bonaventura was on the bridge at the moment, but she was typically posted at engineering. That is also where Dickinson was currently on duty. Kejal had given them both some initial training to familiarize them with the _Vetara_'s systems, and they appeared to be catch along quickly. Kejal now spent about half her time on the bridge and the other half in engineering.

Bonaventura approached Val.

"Sir," she said as she stiffened up. "I've run diagnostics on the bridge's environmental systems and they are at 100%."

"Thank you, petty officer," said Val. He preferred calling her by her rank as opposed to her specialty rating of Electrician's Mate or by her mouthful of a name Ms. Bonaventura.

Bonaventura and Dickinson were tasked with keeping the environmental systems up and running. First priority was the oxygen system, but then others such as gravity and lighting would be on their to-do list. Most importantly, they were to focus on these systems if the ship were to suffer damage from incoming fire. The _Vetara_ had never really engaged in a full-throated space battle. In the event the ship took damage, Kejal would be pre-occupied with the more essential ship functions that would keep the ship intact. Engines, shields, weapons. Environmental stability was low on her list because the safety of the entire ship would be more crucial. In addition, since the _Vetara_ was designed to be capable of operating as an unmanned vessel, environmental stability was sacrificed as a priority. The fight and flight functions were deemed more essential.

Before Bonaventura left the bridge to return to her post, there was a somewhat trivial question she wanted to ask the captain.

"Sir," she said. "I was wondering, why is it that Kejal seems to be able to perform some tasks simply by linking to the computer as if controlling with her own thoughts, but other times, she makes tactile contact with computer consoles to input commands."

Val chuckled a little bit.

"Feel free to ask her yourself, petty officer," he said.

"Is it because you don't know?" wondered Bonaventura.

"I'm the captain of this ship, I know everything," he said with a smile. "You should ask her yourself though. I'll give you a hint, it has to do with the specific tasks she is trying to get accomplished."

Bonaventura walked over to Kejal and asked her the same question. It was strange that she felt more nervous about speaking with Kejal than with the captain. Bonaventura wasn't sure if it was because Kejal was her direct superior, or maybe because Kejal was a hologram, or more likely because Kejal bore the appearance of an alien species.

Kejal explained that the _Vetara_ was separated into three functional systems: propulsion, weapons, and the main computer. The main computer controlled all systems that were not propulsion or weapons. Bonaventura had already been told that, but didn't see the connection. Kejal further explained that she can auto-link to the main computer and carry out commands through that link for any task that involved the main computer. But in order to carry out maneuvers or test fire weapons, she would need to input commands using her holographic hands at a computer terminal.

"I see," said Bonaventura. "Thank you for that."

"Not a problem, petty officer," said Kejal, smiling. She was typically in a good mood. Or, at least, it appeared that way.

Meanwhile, Val read the various patrol reports on his EvansPad. Five recon flights had ventured out and returned with no contacts. It was getting frustrating.

"Burke is holding a command level meeting on the _Solstice_," said Driver. "1300 hours."

"Confirm I'll attend," said Val.

"Aye, sir."

* * *

"I think we should split up," said Riker.

"That's a good idea," said Karr.

Val looked on disbelievingly.

Burke thought about it for several seconds. He then nodded.

Val interjected.

"Admiral, that's not a good idea," said Val.

"Fluidic space to too large. We don't have enough ships and we don't have enough time," said Riker.

There seemed to be general agreement amongst the other captains in the room. Val tried his best not to look horrified.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Val. "This is what happens in horror movies. The gang of characters split up and then they get taken out one by one."

"We don't need to split the fleet several different directions," said Burke. "Two or three squadrons. That'll increase the amount of space we can cover."

Val wasn't comfortable with the idea, but he didn't want to keep fighting it. The flotilla was potentially outnumbered regardless of whether they split up. They were flying through fluidic space, where possibly hundreds of enemy vessels could converge at any time. Val just thought it would be better to stay concentrated and be as strong a force as possible. He appeared to have lost this battle.

"What's the next topic on our agenda?" asked Karr.

"Power supply," said Pow Beeshar. "Fluidic space has proven to be much more difficult to navigate through than we previously anticipated. Our Krowtonan frigates and artillery ship need an additional source of power supply."

"The _Solstice_ and the _Resolute_ seem to be less affected," added Riker. "But we are still experiencing a lot of drag forces due to the fluidic nature of our outside environment. Luckily, Starfleet designed our ships with some basic aerodynamics in mind. By extension, our ships are also more hydrodynamic. The Krowtonan, Kazon, and Hirogen ships are less aerodynamic. The _Vetara_ is somewhere in between."

"The _Vetara_ has experienced no deficiencies in our speed or power distribution to the propulsion systems," remarked Val. This was the first time he was hearing of these difficulties.

"That is most likely because your ship is carrying well below its intended capacity," said Riker. "You're sailing with a small fraction of the crew and equipment the ship is designed to support, so power can be diverted from other systems to propulsion."

"I see," said Val.

"We might need to carry out Spirit Harvest," said Riker. His mood turned a little glum and he seemed reluctant to suggest this course of action.

"What is spirit harvest?" asked Val.

"A few months ago, we encountered an alien race called the Ankari. They had some type of musical instrument that would summon some of their mythological creatures. These creatures were thought to provide good fortune on long journeys. They gave us one of those instruments. As we went underway, we called on one of the spirits," explained Riker.

"It turns out that the spirits are aliens from an extradimensional realm," said Burke. "We took scans and the spirits appeared to emit high levels of antimatter."

"Our scientists constructed a multiphasic chamber in order to confine the lifeforms for further study. Unfortunately, the spirits can only tolerate our atmosphere for a short amount of time and while being confined, it was not able to return to its realm and it died," said Riker.

"Upon further examination of the alien's remains, the scientists on the _Solstice_ were able to convert the remains into a source of fuel. The alien's base proteins stored nucleogenic energy," said Burke. "Operation Spirit Harvest is one of our last option procedures to be activated if we find ourselves in dire need of fuel. One alien could power us for about twenty days. Given the size of our fleet, we would probably need four or five aliens."

"You're going to… kill these spirits for fuel?" asked Val, a little bit surprised.

"If we have to. Our engineers project we'll be out of fuel in a little over a month. Hopefully, we find 8471 before then," said Burke.

"Doesn't that seem a little… wrong?" asked Val.

"Kill or be killed. Back in the day, we used dinosaurs as fuels. Similar concept," said Burke.

"With the huge distinction being that those dinosaurs already perished millions of years before being converted into gasoline. Here, you're actively killing the Ankari aliens," said Val. He was growing a little more disturbed by this idea.

"Well, then consider that back in the day, we hunted for our food and even raised animals on farms for the sole purpose of being killed for food," said Burke. "Look, I'm not thrilled about this, but it's an option I'm leaving on the table."

Val seemed to be the only person disturbed by this particular option. Shirley Shephard, the Evansworld Lieutenant Commander who Burke placed in charge of the _U.S.S. Resolute_ may have also seemed a little disturbed, but she hid it well. Karr and fellow Hirogen alpha Idrin were not disturbed at all. They were Hunters, after all. The Krowtonan pows also seemed to go along with the idea. In fact, they may have been relieved that there was an option to power their vessels so that they could more ably sustain themselves in the event of an attack by 8471.

Val managed to convince Burke to give him some time to solve for engineering solutions to boost power or reduce power consumption. Burke gives him one month. The flotilla is going to split into two squadrons. They will diverge for about half a month and then reconverge in the second half, set to rendezvous at the end of the month. Their two patrols will form a diamond shape.

"We'll table the discussion on Spirit Harvest for now," said Burke. "We have enough reserve power until our rendezvous. Let's move onto the next item."

Riker nodded. He tapped his combadge.

"Lieutenant Sito, will you please send in Dr. Goodspeed?"

"Aye, sir," came the response over the comm system.

Sito escorted the guest into the conference room. The doctor appeared a little bit older than Val, maybe 5 years or so. He wore a uniform that was a variation of the Starfleet uniform. He waved to everyone.

"Lady and gentlemen, this is our specialist, Dr. Goodspeed," said Burke.

"Fran, please go ahead with your briefing," said Riker.

Dr. Francis Lee Goodspeed was a researcher with the F.B.B.I., the Federation Bureau of Biohazards Investigation. His specialty was biological and chemical warfare. He was typically called upon to develop countermeasures to any newly discovered weapons that might be used against the Federation. Right now, his capacity was reversed, and he was asked to design a bio-weapon to be used against 8471.

"Sirs, ma'am," said Goodspeed. "I believe my team and I have designed an adequate virus that will render 8471 inoperable. The virus targets the central nervous system. We believe it should leave them paralyzed for up to an hour. However, because all of our information on 8471 comes from Borg analysts, I cannot guarantee the effectiveness."

"Paralyze?" asked Burke. "Anything that kills outright?"

"Sir. No, sir."

"Captain Shin, can you have your exobiologist review Dr. Goodspeed's notes and determine the effectiveness of the virus on 8471?" asked Burke.

"I'll pass it along," said Shin.

"Sir, if I may," said Goodspeed. "I would like to be temporarily transferred to the _Vetara _and work with Dr. Zet myself. Perhaps two minds will be better than one and we can refine this."

"Any objection?" asked Burke, addressing Val.

"That's fine. Will your team be joining us?" asked Val.

"I don't think that will be necessary. Most of my team were on loan from other departments on the _Solstice_ and they've already been cleared to return to their normal duties."

"Okay, you're on the beam-out with me," said Val.

"We'll be in communications range for at least the next week. Stay in contact so we can get any updates to the bioweapon if necessary," said Burke. "For now, we arm our torpedoes with the prototype and hope that we either have no need to use it, or that it works if we have to."

"Do we have any idea when the High Guard will be able to force open the next threshold gate?" asked Val.

"No. But hopefully soon," said Burke.

"How are we splitting the fleet?" asked Riker.

"The _Vetara_ will lead the _Resolute_, _Yond_, _Sullis_, and _Otin_. The Hirogen ships and the Kazon carrier are with us. Let's start two separate routes about two hours from now and plan to meet up 31 days later. Is there any other business to attend to?"

The captains around the table looked around at each other, but were silent.

"Then that's it, we're adjourned."

* * *

"It figures Burke would take the stronger ships," said Driver, a little bit miffed but not surprised.

"That's okay," said Val. "It's not like I would've enjoyed having a Hirogen alpha get in my face anyway. For whatever reason, they respect Burke, but not really any other human."

"Not true, skipper. They liked me," said Driver with a smile.

"Should've known," said Val, returning the smile.

"Actually, they just have a slightly higher respect for humans than the Krowtonan. If it weren't for your spat with Karr over Kejal's position on the ship, they'd probably be okay with you. Spoke with a couple of the hunters. Their basic impression is that although the Krowtonan High Guard technically saved the _Solstice_ from the Kazon, it really wound up that Burke saved the High Guard in their civil war with the rebels. Burke infused new tactics, and more importantly, a new attitude. One of the Hirogen betas opined that the Krowtonan would have easily been relegated to the dustbin of history if it weren't for Burke. They still might be."

"And how is it that you're so buddy-buddy with the Hirogen?" asked Val.

"The MARCOs and the hunters, we're all warriors," said Driver. "And one of the betas views me as your beta. I told him, only in the field. On the ship, it's Kejal. Ironically, it's your stubbornness which makes some of the hunters not completely dislike you. They've studied you, as is their habit to study new alien species. They were impressed by your decision to take a stand at Olami 6 when you were surrounded by Char Torb's three heavy cruisers. That's the kind of thing the hunters mean when they say you and Burke changed the attitudes of the Krowtonan. Prior to the Krowtonan meeting Burke, they never engaged an enemy unless they knew they would win. They fled if they did not have clear numerical and technological superiority. Burke infused more of a fighting spirit to the Krowtonan High Guard."

"So, in other words, the hunters think we're Klingons. Great."

"Well…."

* * *

"Seems like you're getting the hang of it," said Sergeant Hall.

"You would think after weeks of practice, I would," replied Corporal Rodriguez.

The MARCOs had gotten relatively proficient at using the Krowtonan exo-suits.

"We're gonna crush the flu," said van der Hoeven.

Without a proper name for the alien species, except for a numerical Borg designation, some of the MARCOs took to calling the species "the Flu" because they were from fluidic space. The nickname stuck.

"Let's hope we won't have to," said Hall.

* * *

Six days after the fleet has separated.

"You wanted to speak with me?" said Val as he entered _Vetara_'s main biomedical lab.

"Yes, my captain," said Zet.

"How is the virus research going?"

"Oh, it has been completed, my captain."

"Already?"

"Yes. Dr. Goodspeed is a very intelligent researcher."

"When were you going to report to me about it?" asked Val, a little surprised.

"Dr. Goodspeed said he would," replied Zet. "Ah," he said. His facial expression appeared as if he had figured something out.

Val just looked at him.

"Dr. Goodspeed is very capable. And I have no doubt of his loyalty to the Federation. But… I did sense some reluctance to applying his knowledge as an offensive tool. He may be reluctant to inform you and Admiral Burke of our new discovery. We tinkered with the virus a little bit. Not only was his original virus effective. The new one proved to act faster and do more damage."

"Did you ask me here to discuss the virus?"

"No, my captain. I wanted to discuss something different. Kejal and I had our weekly chat. She explained that one of the tasks you have her working on was finding a way to amplify the efficiency of the fleet's engines in fluidic space. There were more drag factors in fluidic space than anticipated."

"Yes."

"I was wondering, my captain. Have you ever donated blood?"

"Donated blood? No. Why?"

"Just curious. I had suspected that you might not. Starfleet has a strong synthetic blood bank. You have heard of the concept though, am I right?"

"Yes, prior to the synthetic blood, soldiers often needed donated blood to help their comrades who suffered with blood loss from wounds."

"I believe this concept can be a solution to your antimatter fuel situation," said Zet. "Obviously, synthesizing fuel would take power in and of itself, so you can't go that route. But perhaps you can ask these Ankari creatures if they would be willing to donate their 'blood' to you."

"Do they have blood?"

"Well, I don't know. I haven't studied them. But from the reports I've gotten from Dr. Goodspeed, I think there may be a way to extract the nucleogenic energy from these aliens without killing them."

"Goodspeed was part of Spirit Harvest?"

"No. But he had most of the _Solstice_'s scientific database in his computer."

"Okay, let's draw up a plan. Have Goodspeed help if you think he can provide any insight. Give me a report in 12 hours."

"I will, my captain."

"Good thinking, Zet," said Val. He started walking out of the lab when Zet interrupted.

"My captain, may I ask a personal question?"

"Sure."

"I was wondering, is the reason why you didn't discuss Spirit Harvest with me because you felt I would agree with harvesting the Ankari Spirits? That I would sacrifice the lives of the aliens in pursuit of fuel?"

Val was a little surprised.

"No, Zet. It just didn't occur to me. I came at the problem as an engineering issue and it just didn't strike me that there was a biology solution to this. But your point is noted and I will include you in the future when the ship encounters problems that need brainstorming."

"I am grateful for any opportunity to contribute to the ship and the crew."

"And I appreciate your help, Zet."

* * *

Val sat at the head of the table in the _Vetara_'s small briefing room. To his right was Kejal, and to his left was Sergeant Driver. Seated on the other side of Kejal was Zet.

"This sounds doable," said Val and he reviewed Zet's plan on his EvansPad.

Driver had also reviewed the plan.

"I believe the safest place we can summon one of these spirit aliens would be one of the cargo bays. We can provide ample security. The forcefields should hold. I'll have two squads on standby in case they don't."

"Good," said Val. "As for communicating with these spirit creatures, Zet?"

"My captain, I'm an exobiologist, not a linguist."

"Well, that kind of leaves a big hole in this plan, doesn't it?" said Val.

"I can… try," said Zet reluctantly. He knew that his program would be the best able to attempt a translation protocol to communicate with the spirits.

"Thanks. That's all I ask," said Val. "If that's it, let's plan on making this happen at 0500 in Cargo Bay 2. You're all dismissed."

Kejal and Zet materialized out of the briefing room. Val started to get up off his chair, but Driver interjected.

"Sir, permission to speak?" requested Driver.

"Sure." Val was grateful that Driver didn't do this in front of Kejal and Zet. But he wondered what this was about.

"Doesn't this plan strike you as… wrong? I mean, this request of the spirit creatures is really just coercion."

"How so?"

"Well… 'Donate your blood to us or my buddy Maximus Burke is just going to take it from you. Or… maybe he'll just kill you straight out for speed and efficiency. Either way, we're getting our fuel.' That's basically what you're telling these creatures."

"I didn't view it that way, but I see your point. I will tell the alien spirits that if they do not agree to voluntarily donate their plasma or whatever it is that Zet identifies, I will still continue to try to convince Burke not to have them killed."

"But you can't guarantee their safety if they don't agree to help you," said Driver.

"No, I can't," said Val reluctantly.

Driver took that answer in stride. He knew Val couldn't control what Burke would ultimately do. He watched confusingly as Val smirked.

"What?" said Driver.

"I never imagined that you would be the one to recommend to me a more delicate course of action."

"I guess some of your weaker traits have brushed off on me," said Driver.

* * *

Cargo Bay 2

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get this show on the road. Play the flute," said Val.

Corporal Logan played a few notes on the Ankari instrument which summoned one of the spirit creatures. She thought it somewhat resembled a cartoon genie from one of her childhood movies. The alien had a head, a torso, two appendages which appeared to be either arms or wings, but no feet. It was blue.

To everyone's surprise, a second creature flew through the portal before it closed. The second one made a few screeching sounds, which Val presumed were an attempt to communicate. Val looked at Zet's direction. His image was a little fuzzy, since the portable holoprojector he and Kejal jury-rigged wasn't the best of engineering quality. It would do for now. Although fuzzy, Zet appeared to be in thought, most likely running through a few algorithms in order to create a translation matrix.

Finally, after maybe fifteen seconds, a voice came over the ship's computer which translated the blue creature's screeches.

"Who is the kari?"

Val spoke. "I'm sorry, we are not the Ankari. But we are acquaintances with them."

"Who is the kari?" the voice repeated. "The one who speaks for you. The prime among you."

"Oh," said Val. "That would be me. I am a captain, similar to a kari. I am Val Shin. We are from the Federation."

"Salutations, Val Shin, captain of the Federation. I am the second son of Timus. I have been tasked by my progenitor to speak with those outside of our realm."

"It is my honor to meet you," said Val. "I am glad we can have a cordial discussion."

"My people have lost two of our brothers who were called upon to visit other realms. Perhaps you have news of their whereabouts."

"Unfortunately, I do. One of them has perished. I am not sure about the second."

"I see. The one who has perished, will you return his body to us so that we may take him back to our realm?"

Val didn't want to reveal just yet that Burke's people had transformed the alien's remains into a type of crystal fuel.

"Your brother was summoned by one of my colleagues on another ship. I will speak with him after our meeting here."

"I thank you for any assistance you may provide." The alien sounded pleasant, but Val thought he may have heard a little bit of annoyance in the voice. It was hard to tell from the screeches of course. Perhaps just Val's imagination.

"Captain to the bridge!" came an urgent voice speaking into Val's earpiece.

"Not now," said Val.

"Sir. We've got five biologics in formation coming this way, fast. Lightning weapons are charged. Suspect hostile intent. Recommend you get your butt up here now! Sir!"

Val let out an annoyed groan.

"On my way," Val said to the earpiece.

"I apologize," said Val to the spirit, waiting for Zet to translate. "I'm needed elsewhere, but I hope we can continue this conversation later."

The spirit alien seemed to nod imperceptibly. Although, that was probably Val's wishful thinking. After all, not all aliens nod when they mean assent. In fact, most of them do not. The two blue creatures flew back through the portal. Val and Driver ran out of the cargo bay toward the turbolift.

As the turbolift doors closed, Val opened a channel fleet-wide.

"All stop. Condition red. Condition red. All hands: battle stations."

* * *

"I must speak with Val Shin immediately," said an alien. The voice sounded female, and in distress. Kejal had opened the channel when the _Vetara_ was hailed.

"I am Val Shin," said Val as he entered the bridge. He saw that the screen was blank.

"On screen," said Val.

The screen blinked to life. Val was surprised to see a female Starfleet officer on the screen. She appeared to be a vice captain.

"My name is Valerie Archer. I am the second-in-command in this region. You must follow me to our base of operations."

"Second in command? Of what? Of who?" said a confused Val.

"Of the Jonas in this region. You call us 8471."

"Why are you dressed as a Starfleet officer?" asked Val.

"There's no time to explain this. You must order your vessels to follow us. We will escort you to safety."

"Safety? From what?"

The alien who identified herself as Valerie Archer looked annoyed.

"Elmo is with Big Bird," she said. Val watched as she held a small red stuffed animal in front of the camera and began shaking it.

Now, Val was the one who was annoyed.

"Von count is…" said Val.

"Counting on you," finished Archer.

"Fleet-wide," said Val.

Driver punched an icon which opened communications across all ships.

"This is the captain, all vessels stand fast and prepare to jump."

The juvenile challenge codes had been devised by Burke about one hour before the two squadrons separated. Burke was "big bird." Val was "von count."

"Please, allow me to beam over," said Archer.

Val reluctantly nodded. Driver took the shields down. Archer beamed directly onto _Vetara_'s bridge.

A split second later, the five bioships jumped into warp.

"Please follow them," said Archer.

Val sat down in his command chair and linked to the navigation computer. He set a pursuit course.

"Now, can you tell me what this is about?" asked Val. "Where's Burke?"

"Your commander, Burke, and the _Solstice_ group are currently in formation with my commander, Admiral Bullock. May we talk in private?"

"Sure," said Val. He got up from his command chair and walked her to the Vetara's briefing room.

* * *

"Sir, we've reached the Jonas base," reported Lieutenant Sito.

"Slow to one-tenth impulse, signal the fleet," said Captain Thomas Riker.

The _U.S.S. Solstice_ had been flying at the front of the formation, with the rest of the group about 2 minutes behind, in case this was a trap. The _Solstice_ had been escorted by one bioship while the remainder of the group had two bioships in their midst.

"What is that?" wondered Riker out loud.

Burke arrived on the bridge with an alien who took on the appearance of a Starfleet admiral.

"That," said Admiral Bullock, "is Terrasphere 6. It was designed to mimic Earth. Just like we are designed to mimic Starfleet officers. It's our training ground for possible future infiltration into your world."

* * *

Captain Val Shin and Vice Captain Valerie Archer conversed for over half an hour. Archer explained what had happened about a week prior. _U.S.S. Voyager_ had stumbled upon one of the Jonas terraspheres and investigated. Janeway and the Boothby replicant settled on a potential truce.

"Right now, there are three main factions," explained Archer. "We'll call our faction Boothby's faction, for lack of a better identifier. Boothby will be trying to convince the Circle that Starfleet does not pose a threat to the Jonas. The second faction is deadset on invading your dimension and destroying all. The third faction is a bit undecided, but leaning toward destroying the Borg at the very least, and possibly destroying other aliens in your dimension which pose enough of a potential threat. Your Federation would be among those."

"What are the relative sizes of these different factions?" asked Val.

"The size doesn't matter. Their sway does. Boothby has a lot of sway, I believe he will succeed."

"Boothby. Such a quirky name."

"You don't recognize the name?" asked Archer.

"I don't think so," said Val.

Archer reached for Val's EvansPad. It took a few seconds for her to get accustomed to the user interface, but she was a quick study. She was able to access a photo of Boothby from the Starfleet files and showed it to Val.

"Yea, the horticultural groundskeeper at the Academy. I guess I kind of remember him. Weird that your leader would take his identity. I would have guessed an Admiral or something."

"The Jonas have a split similar to your Federation's division of civilian leadership and uniformed military leadership. Boothby is akin to a civilian leader."

"Then I'd think maybe a Federation Council member. A groundskeeper at the Academy? Strange."

"Boothby is apparently a crucial mentor to many Starfleet cadets. Half of the captains in Starfleet wouldn't be where they are today if it weren't for Boothby."

"I find that hard to believe," said Val.

"It's true. Captains like Picard, Janeway, Richardson, and Lopez."

"That's four. I guess there are only eight captains in all of Starfleet," chuckled Val.

"I named the most prominent ones," said Archer.

"Picard's the only real name on the list!" said Val. "Janeway's a relative newbie. And who are Richardson and Lopez?"

"You're just upset that you're not on the list," teased Archer.

"Sure," said Val. "That must be it."

"He was a mentor to Chakotay as well."

"So, now we go from prominent Starfleet captains to traitorous field commanders. Great."

"Well, technically, Chakotay was captain of the _Spartacus_. Or was it the _Geronimo_?"

"Starfleet's last intercepts identified Chakotay's vessel as the _Geronimo_. But it was apparently a maquis habit to frequently change the names of their ships to make Starfleet believe the maquis were a larger force than they actually were."

"You're not a big fan of Vice Captain Chakotay."

"No, I am not."

"You're pretty keen on seeing Chakotay punished."

"I'm a prosecutor. It's kind of my thing."

"I found Chakotay to be a trustworthy person. You don't?"

"Well, Starfleet trusted him. Look how that turned out."

"Chakotay saved _Voyager_ by ramming _Geronimo_ into the Kazon carrier ship."

"I'll give him credit for that," said Val. "It was a brave thing to do."

"But…."

"You ever wondered how he came to possess the _Geronimo_ in the first place? I mean, he didn't build it. It's not a pleasure craft that he inherited from his parents. How do you think it happened?"

"He hijacked it from Starfleet, didn't he?" said Archer, reluctantly guessing that Chakotay hadn't always been a perfect angel.

"Close. His fellow traitor-in-arms attacked a Starfleet reserve marina and stole three border patrol craft. This Eddington character fired on Starfleet personnel and sent several to the infirmary. And get this, Eddington was able to disable the marina's defenses because he had previously sabotaged the systems while he was in uniform, before he declared his defection. One of the craft was given to Chakotay. That vessel didn't belong to Chakotay. It belonged to the government of the United Federation."

"Chakotay wouldn't attack Starfleet officers."

"I don't know that. Do you know that?" asked Val.

"He's a good person."

Val looked as if he were tired of debating, or perhaps came to a sad realization.

"That's the thing about being a prosecutor," said Val. "It can open your eyes. There are lots of good people out there. Very good people. But some become criminals and you wonder what happened. Somewhere down the line, they took a wrong turn. They get caught up in something and it snowballs. Things are never the same again. On paper, Command Lieutenant Michael Eddington was an exemplary officer. Vetted by Starfleet to be loyal and worthy of being entrusted with overseeing security operations in the Bajor sector. It probably started out small. Maybe one day, he smuggled rations to the traitors because he thought they were hungry. Then maybe replicators. Before he knew it, he was stealing Federation patrol shuttles and leading enemy formations into attacking the _U.S.S. Defiant_ and the _U.S.S. Malinche_, among other Federation ships. Charged with sedition, high treason, and terrorism. The maquis leadership, most of them were fine officers at one point in time but made a bad choice somewhere. They start down a road and can't turn back."

"You know, one of the reasons I suggested that Boothby take a chance on trusting Starfleet was because I trusted Chakotay. You're saying I shouldn't have trusted him. Perhaps we shouldn't have a truce with Starfleet."

"If your only reason for a truce with Starfleet was your trust in him, then maybe you shouldn't."

Archer was a little surprised. She didn't expect that answer.

"But sometimes, you need to make a blind leap of faith. You should trust Burke," said Val.

Archer giggled. "I trust Burke as much as I would trust Bullock. Which is to say, very little."

This answer, in turn, surprised Val. Not that she didn't trust Burke, but that she also didn't trust her comrade, the one who disguised himself as a Starfleet admiral.

"But… I do trust _you_," added Archer.

"Glad to hear it. But the truth is: you don't know me. Same as Chakotay."

Valerie Archer's sunny disposition seemed to be unshakeable.

"I'm an excellent judge of character," she insisted.

* * *

It was only a few days before the _Vetara_ reached Terrasphere 6, home base for Boothby's faction. Val stared at his screen intently as he zoomed in and saw exact replicas of Starfllet Command, Starfleet Academy and Starfleet Medical. On the farther end of the terrasphere, there was a mock setup that resembled a small town. It was interesting and eerie at the same time.

"Since you were gracious enough to play host to me for the past few days, I'd like to return the favor," said Archer. "Join me for a little while."

Val agreed, and took a few MARCOs down with him. Though, once he beamed down, he let the MARCOs explore on their own.

* * *

Max Burke beamed down to "Starfleet HQ" on Terrasphere 6. He beamed down alone, as arranged. In the Office of the Chief of Fleet Operations sat Admiral Harold Bullock, in his crisp Starfleet uniform.

"You are armed," Bullock remarked.

"Yes, as is my protocol for whenever I beam over to alien environments," said Burke.

"Your colleague Val Shin did not beam over armed," said Bullock.

"Is that so?" said Burke.

"I'm wondering," said Bullock. "Why is that?"

Burke shrugged his shoulders. "I'm an educated man, but I must confess I know little about the travel habits of Captain Val Shin. Now, what is it you asked me over here to discuss?"

Bullock's eyes narrowed. He disliked humans, but as far as humans went, he liked Burke. He and Burke were the same. Undiplomatic. Straight to the point. Bullock hated diplomats. They were nice to your face, but who knew what they were really thinking inside their heads? Bullock could deal with soldiers.

"I want to be honest with you, Admiral Burke. I do not think Boothby will be successful in convincing the Circle of High Coordinators to refrain from attacking your dimension."

"I see. I thank you for your candor."

"That being said, I do not wish us to be enemies. As far as I am concerned, we of Boothby's faction shall remain on the sidelines as neutrals. I will provide for your safety without striking the other clans. Once Boothby sends word of the High Coordinators' decision, if they reject peace, I recommend you immediately return to your dimension."

"That sounds like a good idea. Thank you for the heads up."

"I hope for a peaceful resolution, Admiral Burke."

"As do I, Admiral Bullock."

Burke prepared to leave Bullock's posh office, but decided to add something.

"Admiral, I also wish to be honest with you," said Burke.

"Please."

"In the event your High Coordinators wish to continue hostilities, I will be left with no choice but to defend all members of the Delta Quadrant alliance. This might include the Borg, depending on what my superiors at Starfleet Command decide or even what the Krowtonan Emperor requests. Now, I understand the Borg may have entered into fluidic space first and started this whole mess and I am very sorry. But it is likely the higher ups in my dimension will not tolerate these attacks at will from fluidic space."

"In the spirit of honesty, let me tell you: we are aware of your nanoprobe countermeasures and they will prove ineffective. We have the schematics from _Voyager_. It was the main thing Boothby demanded in return for his willingness to try to get the Circle to declare a truce."

"While I cannot tell you the exact nature of our weapon, I can tell you that it has nothing to do with Borg nanoprobes," said Burke. "In the event of war between our dimensions, I highly recommend that you and Archer keep your forces in fluidic space."

Bullock studied Burke's face for a few seconds, and determined that Burke was not bluffing.

"I will take your advice into account."

Burke walked out of Bullock's office, but decided to walk around the fake grounds of Terrasphere 6. It had been a long while since he was last in San Francisco.

* * *

Val and Archer walked along the main street of the simulated town. Val used to think he would retire to a quaint small town. Having grown up in a large city, he enjoyed the slow pace.

"If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't completely correct when I said Boothby didn't know you," said Archer.

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me. I think we met once, during my freshman year. I don't expect him to know me."

"But he did. He didn't think you'd make a good Starfleet captain though."

"Ha," laughed Val.

"He thought you were a good person. But he also thought you had a possible issue with authority. 'Attitude counseling probably necessary.' I guess you do, in fact, exhibit some signs of dislike for authority," said Archer.

Val laughed again.

"He thought you'd probably last a few years in Starfleet but then get bored. You had childish tendencies. You were a creative type. He thought you'd wind up as some type of artist, where your playful tendencies might actually prove to be an asset."

"All this from meeting me for 20 seconds. Jeez," said Val.

"It says in his files that he met you on three occasions."

"Umm… That sounds stalkerish."

"It looks like the other two times revolved around one of your acquaintances named Rose. She was on fast-track to the Starfleet Surgeon General's office."

"Oh yea, Rose," said Val. He tried to remember when the last time he spoke to her was.

"It seems that on one occasion, you may have picked one of Boothby's roses and handed it to her as a gift."

"And that got me knocked as dislike for authority? Sheesh," joked Val.

"Despite that, Boothby liked you," said Archer. "It says you were one of the few people who treated Rose as a person."

"I guess," said Val.

"Don't take Boothby's rejection personally. He also wrote that Burke would never make a good captain. Both Burke and _Voyager_'s engineer BLT had anger issues. He guessed correctly that BLT would be drummed out of Starfleet quickly. But he assessed Burke as having a little bit more self-control and capable of climbing as high as senior lieutenant if there were calming influences in his life. One of our psychologists believes these influences were Captain Ransom, then Ensign Gilmore, and then possibly you."

Val laughed again.

"What?" asked an amused Archer.

"I dunno, this seems so strange. I mean, Boothby the groundskeeper keeping detailed files on cadets."

"He liked to people watch."

"Well, it fits that your leader would take his form, since Boothby apparently liked to spy on people. Who would have thought the groundskeeper was such a capable spy. And so judgmental to boot! This person too childish, that person too serious."

"Well…. He was usually spot on!"

Val wanted to change the topic of discussion.

"So, tell me a little about yourself," said Val. "What do you like to do?"

"Well, here in Smallville," said Archer, "I believe the first place I visited was the movie cinema. It was enjoyable. I watched this cute little movie about an astronaut who got lost in his rocketship, propelled somewhere through a black hole. He took in an orphan tiny green alien as a pet, and the two of them explored the galaxy together. I think it was the first of three movies, but I haven't seen the other two."

"Oh, let's go see the second one sometime," said Val. "As friends of course. I know you've got that huge super-crush on Chakotay and all," Val joked.

"Ha ha," said Archer in mock laughter. "Anyway, aren't you like married to a queen?"

"When did you start using the work 'like?'Are you fifteen?"

"Hey, I'm just matching your personality."

After about half a minute of silent strolling, with the two of them looking around, Val started up the conversation again.

"So what else, Vice Captain Archer. Anything else here in Smallville you find enjoyable?"

"Hmm…. The vanilla milkshakes!" said an excited Archer. "I know you love vanilla as well. It's in your file."

"The file is wrong," said Val. "I like chocolate."

"You are such a liar. The file isn't wrong."

"I'm telling the truth! You can ask Driver when you next see him. He'll tell you. Chocolate."

The two were smiling, but a second later, a loud siren rang through the town. Archer received a communication.

"The terrasphere is being attacked," she said with some urgency.

"By who?"

"Unknown."

Val and Archer were quickly beamed to the mock Starfleet HQ.


End file.
